The earlier claims of younger people getting affected more in the second wave is proving to be false if one goes by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data from hospitalised Covid-19 patients during the first and the second spell of the pandemic.
Sharing the data, the ICMR on Monday said, “There was no evidence of the younger population being at greater risk in the ongoing wave and that the proportion of death in the hospitalised patients also hasn’t changed between the two waves. Rather the studies reflect that there is no change in the age profile, older people are still more prone to this virus. One more thing that is very prominent is the shortness of breath has increased in the covid positive patients due to which the demand for oxygen cylinders has also increased.”
However, what has changed is more hospitalised patients (47.5 pc) reporting shortness of breath in the second wave than in the first (41.7 pc), significantly raising the requirement of supplemental oxygen in the country in the ongoing wave, said the study.
Also more asymptomatic people have been admitted to hospitals in the second wave, of which the ICMR has done interim analysis and larger studies are ongoing.
More than 70 per cent of the hospitalised Covid patients in both waves have been over 40 years old, data from 9,485 patients (6,642 between September and November 2020 and 1,405 between March and April 2021) shows.
Only a marginally higher number of youth (0 to 18 years) have been hospitalised this time — 5.8 per cent as against 4.2 per cent last year despite the opening up of economic activities, Dr Bhargava said citing the study data.
“The proportion of 30- to 40-year-olds has remained static at 21 per cent between the two waves. The conclusion is that there is no overarching extra risk to the youth of becoming COVID positive this time. There has been no shift in the age prevalence of COVID in India. The older people continue to be more vulnerable,” Member Health NITI Aayog Dr VK Paul said today.
AIIMS-New Delhi Director Randeep Guleria cautioned people against irrational use of Remdesivir noting that no study in the world had shown it reduced mortality.
“Remdesivir is only to be used in moderately ill COVID patients who are hospitalised, and have very low oxygen levels and lung damage. It is of no use in mild patients.
In fact, the UK has only given paracetamol, hydration and multi-vitamins to mild patients and that’s the way management,” he said, noting that Remdesivir was no magic bullet and this anti-viral injection was not meant to be taken at home.
On plasma therapy, the AIIMS Director said large studies in India had shown it was not useful in COVID patients.
On Tocilizumab, he said it was meant for severely ill COVID patients in whom cytokine storms had set in and no other treatment— steroids, anti-coagulants, etc — was working.
