Young, working-age people most infected in Bangladesh

Young and working-age people have been infected most by the COVID-19 virus in Bangladesh.

Data from the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research showed that 62 per cent of the infected cases were aged between 21 and 50 years.

Bangladesh, as of Sunday, confirmed 621 COVID-19 patients and 34 deaths from the infection.

An analysis of the coronavirus patients by age demonstrated that the highest proportion of the infected people — 23 per cent — were between 31 and 40 years, followed by 20 per cent  in the age bracket of 21–30 years and 19 per cent aged 41 to 50  years.

The patients aged between 51 and 60 years constituted 15 per cent of the total infected people while the cases aged above 60 were 13 per cent.

Besides, 7 per cent of the country’s total COVID-19 patients were children and youths between 11 and 20 years while children below 10 were three per cent, according to the IEDCR data.

The age distribution of coronavirus patients in Bangladesh is similar with that in India but differs with that in the USA, China and Spain, countries among those hit hardest by the virus.

IEDCR’s principal scientific officer ASM Alamgir told New Age that young and working-age people in Bangladesh were reluctant to follow the guideline on staying at home during the lockdown.

‘It [the reluctance]could be a likely explanation for more young and working-age people in Bangladesh getting infected,’ he said, adding that still the number of infected people in Bangladesh was low to draw a conclusion about the patterns among the infected people.

‘Various countries have various situations and we are yet to know much about the new virus,’ said Alamgir, who has expertise about influenza infection.

He observed that people of all ages were vulnerable to the novel coronavirus and that everyone should be cautious.

A study, regarded as the first comprehensive study on COVID-19 deaths and hospitalisation in mainland China and published by The Lancet on March 30, has demonstrated that the risks for coronavirus patients markedly increase if they are of the middle age bracket.

The analysis found that while the overall death rate for confirmed cases was 1.38 per cent, the rate rose sharply with age — from 0.0016 per cent in the under-10s to 7.8 per cent in 80s and above.

The study showed that only 0.04 per cent of the 10- to 19-year-olds required hospital care compared to more than 18 per cent of those in their 80s and above.

Dramatic rises were evidenced among middle-aged people too for hospital care, with 4 per cent of people in their 40s and more than 8 per cent in their 50s needing hospital treatment.

The estimates, reported in the Lancet Infectious Diseases on March 30, are based on an analysis of 70,117 laboratory-confirmed and clinically-diagnosed cases in mainland China, combined with 689 positive cases among people evacuated from Wuhan on repatriation flights.

In India, 83 per cent of the coronavirus patients are below the age of 50, reported Indian media citing the country’s health ministry.

The novel coronavirus has so far infected mostly the working-age population in India, said an India Today report on April 4.

The union health ministry said that an age-wise analysis of coronavirus patients in India showed that 42 per cent of them belonged to the age group of 21–40.

In Spain, people above 70 were the largest group to have been infected with the COVID-19 virus, followed by 17 per cent in their 50s, 15 per cent in their 60s, 15 per cent in their 40s, 11 per cent in their 30s and 8 per cent in their 20s, according to a US CDC analysis.

In the USA, the CDC found, infected people in their 50s accounted for 18.3 per cent, followed by 17.25 per cent in their 20s, 16.96 per cent in their 60s, 15.37 per cent in their 70s and 14.96 per cent in their 40s.

As of now, the death rate of COVID-19 patients in Bangladesh is 5.5, but their age distribution is not available yet.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net