High fatality among coronavirus infected comorbid patients

NEW DELHI: Government data has found that out of all the comorbid people who encountered COVID-19, 17.9 per cent of them have succumbed to the disease. In patients with no underlying medical conditions, the death rate in India stands at 1.2 per cent. This means that people with comorbidities are 15 times more likely to die if they are infected with coronavirus. The data tracing the pattern of coronavirus related deaths in India was released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW).

Comorbities refer to existence of multiple medical conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, heart problems, liver infections, etc. within the same person. This also makes the patient more prone to developing a more severe disease and having long-term defects. According to experts, comorbity in a COVID-19 patient can heavily impede the recovery process. These findings about higher case fatality rate are in line with what scientists around the world have observed.

According to MoHFW data on age and gender specific fatalities in the nation, about 70 per cent of the deaths have been found to be of male patients. Among the total COVID-19 fatalities, 88 per cent have been those aged above 45 years.