Covid-19 deaths at 900: Men aged 61-80 worst affected

With the Covid-19 death toll reaching the 900 mark earlier this week, patients aged 61-80 years accounted for almost half the total deaths in the district since the start of the pandemic, according to the data available with the district health department till June 2. Further, men in this age group accounted for almost 32.8% of the 906 deaths reported till June 2

With the Covid-19 death toll reaching the 900 mark earlier this week, patients aged 61-80 years accounted for almost half the total deaths in the district since the start of the pandemic, according to the data available with the district health department till June 2. Further, men in this age group accounted for almost 32.8% of the 906 deaths reported till June 2.

Vaccination drive is in full swing to reduce the spread of Covid-19 and subsequently, the number of cases and deaths. (Vipin Kumar/HT PHOTO)

Of the 906 Covid-19 deaths till July 2, about 619 were men and 287 were women, according to the data.

On Sunday, two more deaths were confirmed, which took the death toll to 910, of which 66.1% (599) had co-morbidities like diabetes, hypertension and other diseases, while 311 had no co-morbidities.

The health department lacked specific data on deaths reported during the second Covid-19 wave, especially in April and May, although it did show that most of the deaths were reported in these two months. As per the data, almost 541 deaths were confirmed between April 1, when the death toll was 365, and July 2.

“The death toll may have increased this time, but the fatality rate among different age groups has been similar to 2020, highlighting that people in all age groups were equally impacted by the pandemic,” said Dr Jai Prakash, district surveillance officer for Covid-19.

According to the health department data, over 28% of the 906 people who succumbed due to the coronavirus infection in the last 15 months of the pandemic outbreak were aged between 41 and 60 years, while only 10% of the total deaths were of patients aged between 21 and 40 years. There were no deaths reported among patients under 21 years of age.

As per the data, in April and May, at the peak of the second wave of the Covid-19, as many as 116,933 new Covid-19 cases were confirmed. Of these cases, about 29,364 people were aged between 41 and 60 years, while 8,575 were in the 61-70 year age bracket and 4,270 in the 71 to 80 year age bracket.

Dr Dhruv Chaudhary, the state nodal officer for Covid-19, said, “The district and state-level data clearly show that mortality rate has been almost similar during the first and the second Covid-19. Due to the explosion of coronavirus variant in Delhi and National Capital Region (NCR), the number of deaths might have increased, but those above 40 years continued to remain most affected.”

According to the data, 180,713 people have been detected positive for the SARS-CoV-2 virus in the district so far, with people of all age groups being affected. On Sunday, the district reported eight new cases of coronavirus infection, which took the active case count to 107. Of the active cases, at least 11 people are critically ill and undergoing treatment at private hospitals, while 96 are under home isolation.

Cases decrease in June

According to the district health department data, there has been a steady decline in active cases, and subsequently, deaths, from June 15.

In the first week of June, as many as 397 new cases were detected and 25 Covid-19 deaths were reported, while in the second week, 172 new cases were confirmed and 21 Covid-19 deaths were reported. As many as 1,200 and 486 patients recovered in the first and second weeks of the month, respectively.

However, the number of deaths continued to decline thereafter, with a steady fall in the case positivity rate.

As per the data, 78 cases and 13 deaths were reported from June 15 to 21, with the case positivity rate falling to 0.29% from 1.1% and 0.6% recorded in the first and second weeks, respectively, of June.