Young, old, male or female: 86% of 111 who died of COVID-19 had one factor in common

The number of infected is now 4,281, with a jump in 704 in past 24 hours

PTI02-04-2020_000074B Representational image

On Monday, giving a breakdown of the deaths in India due to the novel coronavirus, the Union health ministry cautioned that the virus can be dangerous, irrespective of whether the patient was young, old, man or woman, to those with comorbidities like diabetes, hypertension, chronic kidney and heart-related issues. While cautioning the youngsters to follow social distancing norms, Secretary Lav Agarwal said that 86 per cent death cases have exhibited comorbidities related to diabetes, chronic kidney issues, hypertension and heart-related problems. The elderly are generally the most at risk; Agarwal said that 19 per cent confirmed cases have been reported among the elderly and 63 per cent deaths have been observed among them.

"37 per cent deaths are reported from people below 60 years. This, along with the fact that approximately 86 per cent of deaths have happened in people with comorbidities, highlights that young people with comorbidities are also at a high risk," Agarwal said. Breaking down by gender, Agarwal said males accounted for 73 per cent deaths due to coronavirus infection, while females accounted for 27 per cent. 63 per cent deaths have been reported among people aged 60 and above, 30 per cent deaths among people between 40 to 60 years, and 7 per cent among people below 40 years. Among those infected, Agarwal said males account for 76 per cent of the positive cases and 24 per cent females are were afflicted by the disease.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to 111, and the number of infections climbed to 4,281 as the country on Monday registered a record jump of 704 cases in 24 hours. The active COVID-19 cases stood at 3,851, while 318 people were either cured or discharged and one had migrated, the ministry stated. 28 deaths were reported in the last 24 hours. Of that 21 were from Maharashtra, two each from Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and one each from Punjab, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. According to the ministry, Maharashtra has reported the most coronavirus deaths at 45, followed by Gujarat (12), Madhya Pradesh (9), Telangana (7), Delhi (7), Punjab (6) and Tamil Nadu (5).

What does the health ministry data indicate?

The data provided is completely in line with a study carried out by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention, the largest of its kind, to identify the demography that is most vulnerable to the coronavirus pandemic. The Chinese study had found that, by age, those above the age of 80 had the highest fatality rate among all age groups—the CFR stood at 14.8 per cent. No deaths occurred in the group aged 9 years and younger, but cases in those aged 70 to 79 years had an 8.0 per cent CFR. Most infected patients were between 30 and 79 years of age (87 per cent), 1 per cent were aged 9 years or younger, 1 per cent were aged 10 to 19 years, and 3 per cent were aged 80 years or older. 

By gender, according to the study, the fatality rate for males is higher at 2.8 per cent when compared to females at 1.7 per cent. This disproportionality was also visible in the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndorme (SARS) outbreak in Hong Kong. A report in the Independent claimed that more women than men were infected by SARS, but the death rate among men was 50 per cent higher. The same for the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) outbreak, where 32 per cent of infected men died, compared to 25.8 per cent of women. The report also goes on to state that, citing studies, women are, in general, far less suscpetible to viral infections—one possibility being that a strong immune system is necessary for childbirth, as offspring imbibe antibodies from mothers’ breast milk.

In that study also, pre-existing conditions was considered the greatest danger. Those with heart diseases, diabetes and other conditions run the risk of higher fatality rates. While patients who reported no pre-existing or co-morbid conditions had a case fatality rate of 0.9 per cent, patients with comorbid conditions had much higher rates—10.5 per cent for those with cardiovascular disease, 7.3 per cent for diabetes, 6.3 per cent for chronic respiratory disease, 6.0 per cent for hypertension, and 5.6 per cent for cancer.