Volunteers perform the last rites for a COVID-19 victim in Bangalore on July 11, 2020. Photo: PTI / Shailendra Bhojak
New Delhi: Analysis by the Union Ministry of Health has shown that almost half of the people who have died from COVID-19 are under the age of 60.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that 53% of the people who died due to the viral infection are over 60 years old. “Furthermore, 35% of the deaths were registered in the age group 45 to 60 years. , 10% in the age group 26 to 44 years and 1% each in the age group 18 to 25 years and under 17 years, ”said Bhushan.
On Wednesday morning, the death toll in India due to COVID-19 stood at 1,10,586, with the confirmed count of cases at 72,39,389.
At the press conference, Bhushan warned against any laxity in taking precautions, adding that respiratory illnesses intensify in winter.
The analysis of the Ministry of Health also shows that around 70% of COVID-19 victims in the country are men and 30% are women.
“About 53% of the victims were 60 years or older,” he said, reiterating that older people and people with comorbidities have a higher risk of mortality.
Data from the Ministry of Health confirm once again that people who have underlying health conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, kidney disease, high blood pressure or cancer are at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 than patients with these comorbidities.
The overall case fatality rate for people with comorbidities stood at 17.9% and for those without comorbidities it was 1.2%, Bhushan said.
Providing data on the case fatality rate between different age groups, with and without comorbidities, he said that in the group 60 years and older, the case fatality rate for people with comorbidities is 24.6% and for those without have comorbidities, it is 4.8%. .
In the age group 45 to 60 years, the case fatality rate for those with comorbidities is 13.9%, while for those without comorbidities, it was 1.5%. Among patients under 45 years of age, those with comorbidities had a case fatality rate of 8.8%, while it was 0.2% for those with no comorbidities.
The analysis shows that more people of working age are dying in India due to COVID-19 than in other countries. According to The Telegraph, data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that, as of the October 7 update, 21% of deaths in the country were in people under 65 years.
The World Health Organization analysis found that, globally, the highest percentage of cases has been reported in the age group 25 to 39 years, with approximately 50% of cases in the age group of 25 to 64 years. “However, the percentage of deaths increases with age, and approximately 75% of deaths are in people 65 and older,” the organization said on October 4.
“The massive loss of people in the workforce is likely to have devastating social and economic consequences,” said Sanjay Mohanty, a public health researcher at the International Institute of Population Sciences in Mumbai. The Telegraph.
‘Falling positivity rate’
Bhushan also said on Tuesday that there has been a decline in the cumulative, weekly and daily COVID-19 positivity rates, which stand at 8.07%, 6.24% and 5.16% respectively. “The average daily rate of positivity for COVID-19 has decreased from 8.50% between September 9 and 15 to 6.24% between October 7 and 13,” the official said.
Presenting the data, Bhushan said that there has been a “significant increase” in testing for COVID-19 and there is a continued decline in the positivity rate.
On average, 11.36,000 tests are performed daily.
“Although the positivity rate is declining, it is very important to keep the number and level of testing high,” he said.
Bhushan noted that there has been a continuous decline in the number of daily cases for the past five weeks. The weekly average of daily cases fell from 92,830 in the second week of September to 70,114 in the second week of October, it said.
