Coronavirus is taking a heavy toll on people in the 31-40-50 age groups while largely sparing children and those over 60 in the ongoing second wave in Andhra Pradesh.

The State has now crossed the 10,000-mark in the total number of Covid-19 deaths since the first one was reported on April 3, 2020. The overall mortality rate so far since the outbreak of the pandemic stood at 0.65 per cent, with women constituting 34.27 per cent of the total deaths and men 65.67 per cent. The toll percentage and the case mortality rate in the first and second waves in the state remained almost the same, a death audit by the State government revealed.

About 50.4 per cent of the deaths were being reported from urban areas and 49.6 per cent from the rural side. The State currently occupied the 19th position in the country in overall Covid-19 toll. Mortality in the 41-50 age group jumped up by 5.96 per cent to 21.06 per cent in the second wave as compared to the first wave last year. Here, the positive cases dropped by 0.15 per cent.

The fatality rate among those aged 31-40 years increased by 5.19 per cent now to 11.13 per cent, as the percentage of positive cases also increased by 1.16 per cent, compared to the first wave. The fatalities rose by 2.04 per cent among the 51-60 age group though the positive cases declined by 1.95 per cent. In patients in the 61-70 age bracket, the mortality rate declined sharply by 6.11 per cent to 23.08 per cent, as the number of positive cases also fell by 1.83 per cent.

In the 71-80 age group, the percentage of deaths came down by 4.9 to 11.41 with a 0.71 per cent drop in positive cases. The toll among those over 80 years slid by 1.37 per cent and the positive cases marginally by 0.14 per cent, the government data said.

Coronavirus has infected persons in the 11-20 age group the most during the second wave, showing a 2.21 per cent increase, compared to the first wave last year. But the highest number of positive cases came in persons aged 21-30 years during the first and the second waves, at 21.63 and 23.29 per cent respectively, marking a rise of 1.66 per cent.

Interestingly, fatalities in this age bracket showed only a marginal increase of 0.04 per cent, from 2.68 to 2.72. Among children aged upto 10, the number of coronavirus cases declined by 0.26 per cent and deaths by 0.29 per cent (practically zero now) compared to the first wave, the data showed.