Coronavirus India update: Men account for 70% of COVID-19 deaths, says Health Ministry

The overall COVID-19 fatality rate of people with comorbidities stood at 17.9 percent and for those without it was 1.2 percent, the government said on October 14. Secretary in the Health Ministry Rajesh Bhushan said about 70 percent COVID-19 deaths in India have been men and 30 percent women.

About 53 percent of the victims were aged 60 years and above, he said, adding that elderly people and those with comorbidities are at high risk.

"Also, 35 percent deaths were recorded in the age group of 45-60 years, 10 per cent in the age group of 26-44 years and one percent each in the age group of 18-25 years and below 17 years," Bhushan said.

Providing data on the case fatality rate among different age groups, Bhushan said in the age group of 60 years and above, 24.6 percent of the victims had comorbidities while 4.8 percent had no comorbidity.

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In the age group of 45-60 years, 13.9 percent of the victims had comorbidities while 1.5 percent had no comorbidity.

Among the patients aged below 45 years, those with comorbidities accounted for 8.8 percent of the fatalities while 0.2 percent did not have any comorbidity.

He said there has been a decline in the cumulative, weekly and daily COVID-19 positivity rates, which stand at 8.07 percent, 6.24 percent and 5.16 percent, respectively.

"The average daily COVID-19 positivity rate has declined to 6.24 percent between October 7 and October 13 from 8.50 percent between September 9 and September 15," the official said.

Presenting data, Bhushan said there has been a 'significant increase' in testing for COVID-19 and there is a continuous decline in the positivity rate. On average, 11,36,000 tests are being conducted on a daily basis.

In view of the upcoming festivals and winter season, NITI Aayog member (Health) Dr VK Paul urged people to keep following a COVID-appropriate behaviour such as wearing masks and maintaining social distancing diligently, saying there is no reason to get lax if stability in the number of coronavirus cases is observed.

He cautioned that fresh COVID-19 cases have increased in many countries with the arrival of winter.

Stating that a second peak is being witnessed in many countries and lockdowns are being imposed, Paul said some people are becoming lenient about following the dos and don'ts. He said the coronavirus is a respiratory virus and these viruses attack more in winter.

(With inputs from PTI)

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