A health worker collects swab sample of visitors at the Gateway of India in Mumbai. (Express Photo by Ganesh Shirsekar) Maharashtra capital has added more than 2.50 lakh new cases of Covid-19 in the last two months, a majority of which – 64% – are from the 0 to 49 age group, data from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has revealed.
The proportion of Covid-19 patients among the younger group in Mumbai is much higher in the second wave than the 56% recorded in the first wave in 2020, data showed.
However, the fatality rate in the 0-49 age group remains low as compared to people in the 50 to 90+age group.
Between February 20 to April 20 this year, Mumbai has recorded 2,51,386 fresh cases. Of this, 1,60,643 cases were from 0 to 49 years age group. According to the data, Mumbai has recorded 971 deaths in these two months, of which 91% were between 50 to above-90 age group.
The major chunk of Covid-19 patients belongs to people in the 30-39 age group with 53,588 cases. This is followed by 45,506 cases in the 40-49 and 44,374 cases in the 20-29 age brackets.
Officials agree that during the first wave, the infection rate among the young population was lower as compared to this year. Civic officials said there has been an increase in the infection rate among young children and teens between 10 to 19 years of age. According to the BMC data, in these two months, 12,889 people in the age group have been infected. This is much higher than the data until February 20, when 12,221 children and teenagers of 10 to 19 years age group were infected since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020.
While in the first wave, it took seven months for the city to cross 2 lakh cases of Covid-19, this time the figure has been reached in just two months.
Experts said that even though the current wave has infected more young people, the mortality rate has remained low.
“More young people below 45 are getting infected this time. This is mainly because of them gathering in groups, leading to fast spread of the infection, and in some cases, hospitalization. However, they (the younger patients) have good recovery rates,” said Dr Avinash Supe, head of state government’s death audit committee.
Dr Supe warned against younger patients’ symptoms getting aggravated after a few days of infection. “Double mutant virus is there as we have seen in the change in clinical trends of the patients. We have seen younger patients fine for some days and suddenly, after seven to eight days, their symptoms aggravate.”
According to the data, 63 patients lost their lives from the age group of 40-49, followed by 18 deaths in the 30-39 age group.
Officials said that trends point at western suburbs being more affected by the new Covid wave than the city. Dr Supe said that this trend is less lethal but more infective. As per the data, as on April 20, total Covid case tally has reached 5.62 lakh. In this, 59% are among the 0 to 49 age group.
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