Covid toll in working age group at 11% now

NEW DELHI: Older persons above 60 years continue to be at higher risk of deaths even though they now account for a reduced share of positive cases, analysis of official age-wise data for infected cases and mortality from Covid shows.

People above 60 account for 55% of total Covid-19 deaths in the country, up from 53% reported on October 13 and 51% on August 25. On the other hand, those in the age band of 45-60 now account for a lower share of 33% deaths, as against 35% and 36% in October and August.

The analysis shows that those in the 18-44 age band account for only 11% deaths, though they contributed 52% of all positive cases. This is significant because this is the working age population, more mobile and therefore likely spreaders of infection too.
Overall, a decline in number of new Covid cases, active cases and deaths is reassuring, particularly at a time when several nations are facing a significant surge, the government said on Tuesday even as it cautioned against complacency in the wake of the new UK variant that has now been detected in India too.

The number of active cases has been registered at 2.7 lakh, sliding to a low after six months. The cumulative positivity rate stands at 6.02% while the positivity rate during last week was 2.25%.

The current active caseload in India is much lower at 194 per million population, as compared to the US (23,321), Italy (9,521), Germany (4,568), Russia (3,778), Brazil (3,499) and Turkey (1,241), the health ministry said.

Dr V K Paul, member (health), Niti Aayog, said that people have to very careful with the variant of the coronavirus detected in the UK. “The major population is still susceptible to Covid-19. This particular virus variant may have its own run and we have to very careful. One cannot be careless,” Paul said.