COVID-19 in Mumbai: Young people take more time to recover, but deaths are low

People over age 45 such as here at Dharavi are being vaccinated in an attempt to curb the virus and those over 18 will be able to be vaccinated from May 1. File pic/Ashish Raje

The second wave of COVID-19 in the city has affected young people in the age group of 30 to 39 years the most, and they need a longer stay in hospitals to recover, but the number of deaths is still higher in senior citizens. Out of approximately 3 lakh more cases in Mumbai during the second wave, 2 lakh people are below the age of 50 years.

"Unlike in the first wave, more young people needed hospitalisation during the past two months and take more days to recover, but the positive thing is the recovery rate is very high," said Dr Avinash Supe, chairman of the Death Audit Committee.

He added that young people come late for hospitalisation - after a week of symptoms - and so take more days for treatment. There were 11,442 deaths in Mumbai because of COVID-19 from 2020 till February 21, 2021.

The total number of deaths reached 12,501 on April 21. Out of 1,059 deaths registered between February 21 and April 21, 106 were of those below the age group of 50 years. The fatality rate is 0.05 per cent as the number of affected people is over two lakh.

The number of senior people affected due to COVID-19 is less this time. Around 98,000 people above the age group of 50 years are infected.

This figure is below one-third of the total cases in the second wave. But the toll of those over 50 years is 957, which is almost 90 per cent of the total deaths from Feb 21- April 21.

"Most of the senior citizens had comorbidities. But even then, more than 98 per cent of them recovered. Though the death toll is higher, the fatality rate is still below 2 per cent in senior citizens," said Supe. The fatality rate is more (2.7 per cent) in the age group of 80 years and above.

Age-wise fatalities

(Data: Feb 21-Apr 21)