New Delhi:
About 47 per cent of the COVID-19 deaths within the nation have been recorded amongst these aged beneath 60 years, the Centre stated on Tuesday and cautioned towards any laxity in the direction of taking precautions, stating that respiratory ailments escalate in winter.
Addressing a press briefing, Secretary within the Well being Ministry Rajesh Bhushan stated about 70 per cent COVID-19 victims within the nation have been males and 30 per cent ladies.
About 53 per cent of the victims had been aged 60 years and above, he stated, reiterating that aged individuals and people with comorbidities are at excessive threat.
“Additionally, 35 per cent deaths had been recorded within the age group of 45-60 years, 10 per cent within the age group of 26-44 years and one per cent every within the age group of 18-25 years and beneath 17 years,” Mr Bhushan stated.
Offering knowledge on the case fatality charge amongst completely different age teams — with and with out comorbidities — he stated within the age group of 60 years and above, 24.6 per cent of the victims had comorbidities whereas four.eight per cent had no comorbidity.
Within the age group of 45-60 years, 13.9 per cent of the victims had comorbidities whereas 1.5 per cent had no comorbidity.
Among the many sufferers aged beneath 45 years, these with comorbidities accounted for eight.eight per cent of the fatalities whereas zero.2 per cent didn’t have any comorbidity.
The general case fatality charge of individuals with comorbidities stood at 17.9 per cent and for these with out comorbidities, it was 1.2 per cent, Mr Bhushan stated.
He additional stated that there was a decline within the cumulative, weekly and day by day COVID-19 positivity charges, which stand at eight.07 per cent, 6.24 per cent and 5.16 per cent respectively.
“The typical day by day COVID-19 positivity charge has declined from eight.50 per cent between September 9-September 15 to six.24 per cent between October 7-October 13,” the official stated.
He added that there are eight,38,729 lively COVID-19 circumstances within the nation presently and the quantity has been beneath 9 lakh for the fifth consecutive day.
Presenting knowledge, Mr Bhushan stated there was a “vital improve” in testing for COVID-19 and there’s a steady decline within the positivity charge.
On a median, 11,36,000 checks are being performed each day.
The well being secretary additional knowledgeable that 14 states and Union territories have a better checks per million determine and a decrease positivity charge than the nationwide common.
“Though the positivity charge is declining, it is rather essential to keep up the excessive numbers and degree of testing,” he stated.
Mr Bhushan identified that there was a steady decline within the variety of day by day circumstances over the past 5 weeks. The weekly common of day by day circumstances fell from 92,830 within the second week of September to 70,114 within the second week of October.
In view of the upcoming festivals and winter season, NITI Aayog member (Well being) Dr VK Paul urged individuals to maintain following a COVID-appropriate behaviour similar to carrying masks and sustaining social distancing diligently, saying there isn’t a purpose to get lax if a stability within the variety of coronavirus circumstances is noticed.
He cautioned that contemporary COVID-19 circumstances have elevated in lots of nations with the arrival of winter.
Stating second peak is being witnessed in lots of nations and lockdowns are being imposed, Paul stated some persons are turning into lenient about following the dos and don’ts.
He stated the coronavirus is a respiratory virus and these viruses assault extra in winter.
Folks will probably be extra susceptible to respiratory infections similar to pneumonia and influenza within the coming winter months and festive season, he added.
Mr Paul appealed to individuals to put on masks mandatorily and avoid gatherings, stating that scientific estimates have proven that the pandemic could be managed as much as 36-50 per cent on this method.
ICMR Director Basic Dr Balram Bhargava stated the council has determined upon a cut-off of 100 days for re-infection if it happens, as antibodies are additionally assumed to have a lifetime of 4 months, in keeping with some research. “It’s nonetheless work in progress,” he added.
Replying to a question on mutations of SARS-COV2, he stated minor modifications referred to as “drifts” could occur sometimes, however main genetic mutations of viruses or “shifts” could occur in a few decade or two.
On this context, the effectiveness of a vaccine is not going to be decided by minor “drifts”, Mr Bhargava stated.
Responding to a query on extending monetary assist to vaccine producers for conducting human medical trials, Bhushan stated by way of the Division of Biotechnology, the federal government is offering direct monetary help to designated vaccine producers to help in analysis and improvement actions, which presently consists of pre-clinical trials, and in future, could also be prolonged for medical trials additionally.
On a media question on the cold-chain infrastructure for vaccines, he stated a sub-group of the Nationwide Committee for Vaccine Administration has already mapped the obtainable cold-chain infrastructure being utilised for the federal government’s immunisation programme and made projections for added necessities.
Presently, the group is engaged in mapping the non-public sector services that would serve the wants of supplementing the cold-chain tools.
Bhushan stated 10 states — Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Chhattisgarh and Telangana — account for 79 per cent of the lively COVID-19 circumstances within the nation.
Until two weeks in the past, Kerala was not within the listing and now, it’s on the third spot, he stated.
Maharashtra accounts for 25.38 per cent of the lively circumstances, Karnataka 13.81 per cent and Kerala 11.26 per cent.
“We’re conducting conferences with these states individually and forming methods on how one can combat COVID,” Mr Bhushan stated.
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