With the number of reported Covid cases in Uttar Pradesh crossing 15 lakh and the total death count, according to the government, reaching 16,000, a study of the pandemic’s effect on different age groups shows that almost half of the those infected by the virus in the last one year are youngsters, while the maximum number of fatalities was among those above 50 years.
As per the data collected by The Indian Express, Covid-19 has affected a large number of children, and 80 kids below 10 years have died since last year.
The data is contrary to the notion that healthy youngsters are at lesser risk from the virus.
As of Tuesday (May 11), 7.12 lakh of the reported 15.45 lakh cases or over 46 per cent cases are from the age group of 21 to 40 years. At least 2.57 lakh of the positive cases (16.66 per cent) were between 41 and 50 years. Over 2.12 lakh cases, or 13.73 per cent, were from the 51-60 age group and over 1.76 lakh, or 11.39 per cent, were above 60 years.
A great number of children and teenagers have also been infected by the virus and over 1.39 lakh cases, which is around 9.02 per cent of the total, belong to the 11-20 years age group.
In addition to it, 48,014 children below the age of 10 have been infected by coronavirus.
If we do a similar comparison in terms of the reported Covid fatality number, the result shows that despite a high infection rate among the youngsters, the virus has proved to be more fatal among the elders. As per the data, 7,083 or 44.15 per cent of the total 16,043 deaths were those above 60 years. Around 4,040 deaths, or 25.18 per cent, were in the age group of 51-60 years.
At least 4,710 deaths, or close to 30 per cent, were among those between 21 and 50 years.
In addition to it, 219 of those who succumbed to the virus were below the age of 20 years.
It can be therefore concluded that those above 60 years has a fatality rate of over 4 per cent, those between the age of 51 and 60 years have a fatality rate of 1.90 per cent, those between the age of 21-50 years has a fatality rate of below 0.50 per cent.
At around 0.11 per cent, the fatality rate is even lower among children and teenagers.
In India, experts say, 80-85 per cent are asymptomatic, and as they are mostly youngsters, they continue to be the largest carrier of the virus.
Over 65 per cent of the positive cases and 67 per cent of the total deaths (10,844) were men, and over 34 per cent of the positive cases and 32 per cent deaths (5,198) were women.
WHO takes note of UP govt’s drive against Covid in rural areas
Lucknow: The World Health Organization has noted the efforts of the UP government to contain the spread of the coronavirus in rural areas, with special reference to a five-day mass-testing drive in villages that began May 5.
In the report published on May 7, WHO said the state has initiated house-to-house screening and testing of people across 97,941 villages. “Each monitoring team has two members, who visit homes in villages and remote hamlets to test everyone for symptoms of Covid-19 using rapid antigen tests kits. Those who test positive are quickly isolated and given a medicine kit with advice on disease management. All the contacts of those who test positive are quarantined and tested using an RT-PCR at home by a rapid response team. Two mobile vans have been allocated to each Block within a district in the state to test people with symptoms, even as routine sample collection and testing continues in Community Health Centres,†the report said. —ENS