Covid-19: Of 405 deaths, 21% were above 75 years in West Bengal

KOLKATA: About 36.4% of deaths among Covid patients in Bengal have been in the age group of 60 and above. Among them, those who were 75 and above were more at risk, contributing to 21.1% of all deaths of Covid patients in the state.
An analysis of all 405 deaths of Covid patients in Bengal by the health department on Monday did not classify the deaths as “due to Covid” and “due to co-morbidities”, clubbing all together instead. Till June 7, Bengal had reported 72 deaths due to co-morbidities. Among them, 52 were reported in Kolkata. While 4.7% of the Covid-positive patients have died, 40.2% have been treated and discharged from hospitals. Bengal, till Monday, had treated and discharged 3,465 cases.
Kolkata has reported 260 of the state’s 405 deaths and accounted for 1,471 of the 4,743 active Covid cases in Bengal. A health department study of all 405 deaths in Bengal indicated that in 65.6% cases, the deceased had co-morbid conditions. These conditions were mostly hypertension, diabetes, cardiac diseases, chronic kidney disease (CKD) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Some cases were being treated for malignancy and few others were on dialysis. These diseases were acutely prevalent in victims who were 60 years old and above.
The other facet which came out in the study dealt with death in women where hypertension, diabetes, cardiac diseases and CKD were present in 79% of cases. In men, these were present in 75% of cases. Malignancy and COPD, however, appeared more in case of the men who fell victim to Covid.
The data also revealed that people in the 0-45 age group only formed 2.5% of the deaths in Bengal. In this case, the fatalities have been the least in the 16-30 age group, which experts said was due to high immunity levels.
The Union health ministry data suggested that Bengal’s deaths were lower than Maharashtra (3,060), Gujarat (1,249), Delhi (812) and Madhya Pradesh (412). However, Bengal recorded a sharp spike in cases with 426 testing posit-ive on June 7, 128 among them in Kolkata.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Monday urged people to be careful and maintain social distance.
The trend of Covid cases being reported from districts, which have witnessed a huge migrant influx, continued. Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri and North 24 Parganas reported a significant number of Covid positive cases on June 7. Bengal has 22,731 people in institutional quarantine and 1.5 lakh in home quarantine.