Coronavirus: COVID-19 cases have been rising in India, though recovery rate has improved
Contrary to the perception that the elderly and children are the most vulnerable to COVID-19, data released by the Uttar Pradesh government shows that over half of its coronavirus patients are between the age group of 21 and 40 years - its young population.
With 7,884 cases, this age group comprises 51.93 per cent of all cases in the state, where the recovery rate is 60.85 per cent - substantially higher than the all-India average of 52.95 per cent.
The next age group which accounted for the highest number of coronavirus cases was between 41 and 60 years of age with 30 per cent cases. Till now, about 900 senior citizens - a little over 6 per cent - have contracted the coronavirus in Uttar Pradesh.
The state's trend - where the young are as likely to get the disease as the elderly - is unlike the one observed in other countries, where the elderly have shown a higher probability of getting coronavirus because of lower immunity.
However, it must be noted that as per the World Health Organisation findings the vulnerability of patients is based not only on their age, but also underlying medical conditions, such as high blood pressure, heart and lung problems, diabetes or cancer.
"Older people and those with underlying medical problems were at higher risk of developing serious illness... Around 1 out of every five people who gets COVID-19 becomes seriously ill and develops difficulty breathing. Most people (about 80 per cent) recover from the disease without needing hospital treatment," the WHO says.
In view of the lower immunity exhibited in the older population and children, the Government of India has also issued an advisory categorising those older than 65 years and children younger than 10 as "vulnerable" and urging them to travel only when necessary.
India reported 12,881 coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours in the biggest one-day spike, showed government data, according to which the highly infectious disease has claimed 334 lives in the last 24 hours.
India has so far reported 3,66,946 coronavirus cases, of which 1,94,325 have recovered and one patient has migrated.
A total of 12,237 have died till now. The samples of 62,49,668 people have been tested across the country. At least 1,65,412 were tested on Wednesday and 7.78 per cent of them were found positive.