E-Paper
Recovery rate of minors is very high, says Ghaziabad health dept
While cases of Covid-19 and deaths associated with the disease are on the rise in Ghaziabad district, the health department officials said there was cause for some
While cases of Covid-19 and deaths associated with the disease are on the rise in Ghaziabad district, the health department officials said there was cause for some good cheer -- minors afflicted by the infection have responded well to treatment and many of them have already recovered from the coronavirus disease.
The officials of the district health department said none of the minors who contracted the virus needed to be shifted to L2 or L3 category hospitals, where only serious or critical cases are treated.
According to officials, 22 minors have tested positive for Covid-19 so far in the district, and a majority of them have recovered while the rest are undergoing treatment at the L1 Covid hospital in Sahibabad. The youngest of them was a newborn while the oldest are about 17 years of age.
“The recovery rate of minor children is very high, maybe because they have higher immunity levels. Most of them responded well to treatment at L1 hospitals. In contrast, the aged -- in the age group of 40 years to over 60 years -- make up most of the fatalities. These included people with pre-existing health conditions that got aggravated due to Covid-19,” Dr NK Gupta, chief medical officer, Ghaziabad, said.
“As far as minors are concerned, we have no instance of a minor going into a critical state so far. Most of these children acquired the infection from their immediate family members or relatives,” Dr Gupta said.
According to the officials of the L1 Covid hospital at Sahibabad, only four minors are currently undergoing treatment at the hospital.
“The four children are recovering fast and responding well to treatment. Their recovery rate is high and this is very encouraging,” Dr Pramod Kumar, medical superintendent of the Sahibabad hospital, said.
“My wife along with my newborn twin daughters was admitted to a L2 hospital in Sanjay Nagar, after my wife tested . positive for Covid-19. The newborns stayed with the mother. After a couple of days, I brought home one of the twins while the other remained with her mother at the hospital. They got discharged on May 3. Both of my daughters are safe and did not contract the infection,” 30-year-old resident of Siddharth Vihar, not wishing to be named, said.
The tally of Covid-19 positive patients stood at 638 as on June 15.
According to official estimates, the age group of 0-20 years is the least affected in the district with only 9% of total the cases falling into this category. The age group of 21-40 years accounts for 49% of all cases. The age group of 41-60 years accounts for 31% of cases, while those over 60 years of age chalk up the remaining 11% cases.
Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has directed that Covid beds in the districts under the Meerut division of western Uttar Pradesh be doubled.
“The NCR areas are highly sensitive in terms of higher number of Covid-19 cases and Adityanath has directed that the beds capacity of all hospitals be doubled to deal with a further escalation in cases. The district magistrates and police have been asked to take all steps to contain the infection,” Awanish Awasthi, additional chief secretary (home), Uttar Pradesh, said.
