E-Paper
44% of Covid-19 patients in UP in age group of 21-40 years
Ghaziabad: The age group of the maximum number of Covid-19 positive patients in Uttar Pradesh is 21-40 years as against the perceptions that senior citizens are more vulnerable, shows an analysis conducted by the state health department. According to the analysis of the positive cases, 44% of them were between the age group of 21-40 years, while 13% of the patients were in the age group of over 60 years.
Ghaziabad:
The age group of the maximum number of Covid-19 positive patients in Uttar Pradesh is 21-40 years as against the perceptions that senior citizens are more vulnerable, shows an analysis conducted by the state health department.
According to the analysis of the positive cases, 44% of them were between the age group of 21-40 years, while 13% of the patients were in the age group of over 60 years.
According to officials, the number of Covid-19 positive cases across the state stood at 343 till Wednesday evening and 187 of them were linked to the Tablighi Jamaat event held in Delhi’s Nizamuddin last month.
“In our analysis, we have found that the least affected people in the state are senior citizens aged over 60 years. They account for 13% of total patients. The age group of 0-20 years accounts for 16%, while the highest number of share of 44% is of people who are in age group 21-40 years. Nearly 27% patients are those who are in age group of 41 to 60 years,” said Amit Mohan Prasad, UP’s principal secretary (health).
“So, it becomes essential that preventive measures like frequent washing of hands, social distancing, etc. should be followed properly in order to avoid any infection. We are working in close coordination with the Union health ministry to take up measures to control the spread,” Prasad said.
He said that the UP chief minister on Wednesday gave directions for strengthening of the lockdown and ensuring 100% compliance. The state government announced an intensive lockdown of 105 hot spots in 15 districts till the morning of April 15.
“Apart from this, we are also going to ramp up our testing facilities. Till now, we took up about 700-800 samples per day. From Thursday onwards, we will start taking up about 1,500 samples per day. In districts where we have no Covid-19 case, but people have influenza-like or severe acute respiratory symptoms, their samples will also be taken up. This will be done to check if there is any transmission in such areas,” Prasad said.
So far, the government has implemented three layered Covid-19 health care facilities across the state with L1, L2 and L3 category hospitals which are only dedicated to deal with Covid-19 positive cases.
The officials said that they are creating one more ‘L1 Attached’ category after a government order.
“This category will deal with asymptomatic patients of Covid-19 and their case management is not difficult. These patients will be treated at nearby hotels, lodges or hostels which will be hired near the L1 and L2 category hospitals. These hotels and lodges will be taken up where 100-120 beds will be reserved for asymptomatic patients. Already, we have 10,000 beds reserved for L1, L2 and L3-category Covid-19 hospitals and similar number of beds will now be made available under the L1 Attached category,” Prasad said.
The officials also said that enough supply of hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malarial drug being widely used to treat Covid-19 patients, has been provided to all districts.
The worst affected districts in Uttar Pradesh include Agra, Ghaziabad, Gautam Budh Nagar, Kanpur and Meerut, among others.
