54% Covid-19 Cases in 18-44 Age Group, 51% Deaths Among Senior Citizens: Health Ministry

The Health Ministry on Wednesday revealed that patients within the age group of 18-44 contribute to 54% of total COVID-19 cases. The data came on a day when India?s COVID-19 tally of cases galloped past 37 lakh with78,357 new instances of the disease reported in a day. The number of recoveries has however crossed 29 lakh, pushing the recovery rate to 76.98 per cent, the Union health ministry said.

Besides the total number of cases, the Ministry’s data showed that 51% deaths are among senior citizens. “54% COVID19 cases are in the 18-44 years age group but 51% deaths are in the 60 years and above age group,” the Health Ministry tweeted.

The Ministry further urged citizens to continue to strictly follow the COVID-19 safety guideline. “It continues to be important to observe COVID-19 appropriate safe behaviour of wearing masks/face covers in public, following hand hygiene and cough etiquette,” it said.

Meanwhile, a recent study said that widespread mask use and data-driven social distancing measures in India may help prevent over 2,00,000 COVID-19-related deaths in India by December 1. The study by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington in the US suggests that there is an opportunity to further limit the toll of COVID-19 in India.

India has so far reported 37,69,523 cases of the viral disease, according to the data updated at 8 am.

The total number of COVID-19 recoveries in the country has surged to 29,01,908, while the fatality rate has further declined to 1.76 per cent. There are 8,01,282, active cases in the country which comprises 21.26 per cent of the total caseload, the data stated. India?s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 and went past 30 lakh on August 23.

According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a total of 4,43,37,201 samples have been tested up to September 1, of which 10,12,367 were tested on Tuesday.