Number of centenarians with Covid-19 tops 200 in Karnataka

BENGALURU: The number of centenarians who contracted Covid-19 in Karnataka has increased from 67 in mid-April to 212 (as of July 29). Of these, 61 tested positive in July, the highest for any month since the pandemic began.
At the end of March, there were 63 centenarians with Covid history in the state. This figure rose to 137 by Mayend and to 151 by June 30. Eleven of the 212 patients died of the infection. The case fatality rate in the 100-plus age group is 1.4 per cent, in line with the state’s overall average of about 1.3 per cent.

Age-wise distribution of cases (as of July 29) shows that the fatality rate is 4 per cent in the 60-69 group, 6 per cent in 70-79, 7.7 per cent in 80-89, and 11.8 per cent in the 90-99 bracket.
In the under-60 group, those aged between 50 and 59 have the worst fatality rate (2.1 per cent), followed by patients aged between 40 and 49 years (0.9 per cent). It is less than 0.1 per cent among those in the 0-20 and 20-29 age groups and 0.3 per cent in the 30-39 bracket.
Second pandemic for many
According to officials, for many of the 212 centenarians, Covid-19 is the second pandemic in their lifetime after the Spanish flu of 1918. But the exact figure of how many are older than 103 years was not immediately available.
A break-up provided by the government in November 2020, when the number of such people was only 60, showed that there were at least 25 citizens who had survived the 1918 flu too.
Of the 60 centenarians who were diagnosed with Covid-19 in November last year, 22 were aged exactly 100 years, 13 were between 101 and 102. The remaining 25, including some as old as 116 and 119, have witnessed two pandemics. Of these, 24 had already been discharged when TOI last reported on the matter.