NEW DELHI: About 47 per cent of COVID-19 deaths have been recorded among those aged below 60 years, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday.
Addressing a press briefing, Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said about 70 per cent COVID-19 deaths have been of male patients while 30 per cent of fatalities from the infection have been reported in females.
"About 53 per cent COVID-19 deaths registered among those aged 60 and above, 35 per cent in 45-60 years, 10 per cent in 26-44 years and 1 per cent each in the age-group 18-25 years and below 17 years," Bhushan said.
Providing data on case fatality rate among different age groups with and without comorbidities, he said in the age group of 60 years and above, 24.6 per cent of deaths were of people with comorbidities while 4.8 per cent were of those without comorbidities.
In the age group of 45-60 years, 13.9 per cent deaths were of patients with comorbidities while 1.5 per cent were of those without comorbidities, he said.
Among the patients aged below 45 years, those with comorbidities constituted 8.8 per cent of deaths while 0.2 per cent of those who died didn't have any comorbidities, he said.
The overall case fatality rate of people with comorbidities stood at 17.9 per cent and 1.2 per cent for those without comorbidities.
Bhushan further said there has been decline in the cumulative, weekly and daily COVID-19 positivity rates which stand at 8.07 per cent, 6.24 per cent and 5.16 per cent respectively.
"Average daily COVID-19 positivity rate has declined from 8.50 per cent between September 9-September 15 to 6.24 per cent between October 7-October 13," he added.
He further said there are 8,38,729 active cases in the country as on date and they have been below the nine lakh mark for the fifth consecutive day.
Presenting the data, Bhushan said there has been a "significant increase" in testing for COVID-19 and there is also continuous decline in positivity rate.
In view of the upcoming festivals and winter season, NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr V K Paul urged people to keep following COVID appropriate behaviour diligently such as wearing masks and maintaining social distancing, saying there is no reason to get lax if stability in coronavirus cases is observed.
Stating that second peaks are coming up in many countries and lockdowns are being imposed, Paul also said it is being observed that some people are becoming lenient about following the guidelines.
He urged the youth to be cautious as they may infect the elderly in their families.
He said the novel coronavirus is a respiratory virus and these kinds of viruses attack more during the winters.
People will be more prone to respiratory infections like pneumonia and influenza in the coming winter months and festive season, he said.
Paul appealed to the people to wear masks mandatorily and show no laxity on this aspect, stating that scientific estimates have shown that the pandemic can be controlled up to 36-50 per cent in this manner.