In Reversed Trend, Elderly, People with Comorbidities More Susceptible to Covid-19, Account for 75-80% Fatalities in Mumbai

Ever since the pandemic began, people with compromised immunity and underlying medical conditions face much higher risks for severe illness and are more susceptible to death. After several healthy individuals lost lives during the second Covid-19 wave, civic data reveals that the trend has reversed with comorbidity-related deaths once again accounting for 75-80% fatalities.

While the second wave wreaked havoc across the country with overwhelmed healthcare infrastructure, a disproportionately higher number of people without an underlying health condition died during the peak. As the wave ebbs, this worrying trend has started to reverse.

A Times of India report stated that during the second wave in April and May 2021, the deaths without underlying comorbidities accounted for 41% and 42% respectively of all Covid fatalities. The death rate was alarming, as the young succumbing to Covid-19 had seldom crossed 25-30% since the outbreak. As deaths of those without comorbidities rose, comorbidity-related deaths dropped to 58% in April and May.

Reportedly, the data now stated that the trend has reversed with comorbidity-related deaths once again accounting for 75-80% fatalities. Deaths among healthy individuals dropped to 30% in June and 35% in July. In August so far, 27% of deaths have been in individuals with no known ailments, while 73% has been in those with comorbidities, such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, hypothyroidism, TOI reported.

Dr Avinash Supe, who heads Mumbai’s Covid death audit committee told TOI, that the major number of deaths recorded now are among senior citizens with underlying ailments who have been hospitalized with Covid for weeks.

On average, Mumbai is clocking an average of 30-35 weekly Covid deaths, of which almost 65% is of those above 60 years, he added. With the city’s high diabetes and hypertension burden, it is unlikely that Covid deaths would come to naught, he further stated.

Stating the trend is back and is evident, Dean Dr Balakrishna Adsul said they had recorded many deaths in the younger age group in May, but now mortalities are once again concentrated in the elderly.

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