No proof young more vulnerable: ICMR

Aditi Tandon

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, April 19

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) today shared data from hospitalised Covid patients during the first and the second waves of the pandemic to show that there was no evidence of the younger people being at greater risk today than before.

The council also said the proportion of deaths among those admitted was the same in 2021 as in 2020.

More than 70 per cent of the hospitalised Covid patients in both waves have been over 40-year-old, show data from 9,485 patients—6,642 between September and November 2020 and 1,405 between March and April 2021, collected from 40 hospitals across India.

“There is no overarching extra risk to the youth of becoming Covid-positive in the current wave. There is no shift in the age prevalence of Covid in India and the old continue to be more vulnerable,” said Member Health NITI Aayog VK Paul, chairman of the National Expert Group on vaccination.

The ICMR analysis, however, shows many more patients are in need of oxygen today than in 2020, although the proportion of those who died is the same—9.6 and 9.7 through the peaks of two years.