NEW DELHI: The Union Health Ministry data on Tuesday reconfirmed a disturbing trend -- that of an unusual number of people under 60 succumbing to Covid-19 in India.
The government data says while 53% of those who died due to the infectious disease are above 60, a whopping 47% are under 60.
As there have been 1,09,856 deaths due to Covid-19 in the country so far, it means that 51,632 people below 60 years lost their lives to the disease so far.
In absolute numbers, this also suggests that 58,223 of those who died were above 60.
According to the data shared by the government in a press briefing on the Covid-19 outbreak, 70% of all who have died are male while 1% are under 17. Another 1% who died were in the age bracket 18-25 while 10% were 26-44-year olds.
Also re-emphasising how the disease is particularly fatal for those with comorbidities, the figures show that only 0.2 % of those under 45, who did not have any pre-existing illnesses, died, while this percentage, at 8.8%, was significantly higher for those with comorbid conditions.
Across all age groups, 17.9 % of those with pre-existing ailments died while it was 1.2% for those without any disease history.
Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan also highlighted that there was a decline in cumulative, weekly, and daily Covid-19 positivity rates. They now stand at 8.07%, 6.24%, and 5.16% respectively, a presentation by him showed.
The official also said that the average daily Covid-19 positivity rate has declined from 8.50% between September 9 and September 15 to 6.2% between 7 and 13 October.
As of now, 14 states and Union Territories have higher tests per million and lower positivity rates than the India average.
Bhushan also said that there are 8,38,729 active cases in the country as on date and the number has been below the 9 lakh-mark for the fifth consecutive day.
While stressing that there seems to be a stabilisation in the Covid-19 curve, Dr. V K Paul, member (health) Niti Aayog, meanwhile, warned that it's likely that the upcoming winter season could aggravate the pandemic and make it even worse than the last peak.
“We have to be more careful in our hygiene practices as it is a respiratory virus and most respiratory viruses escalate during winter,” he said adding that behavioural changes and masks are necessary.