About 42% of those confirmed positive for COVID-19 in India are between the ages of 21-40 years old, the Union Health Ministry said on April 4, for the first time throwing light on the demography of the disease in India. Only 17% of those testing positive were over 60.
By comparison, data from the U.S. Centres for Disease Control said 29% of those affected were in the 20-44 age group and 32% were above 60. India recorded 2,904 cases and 75 deaths as on Saturday compared to the 2,79,355 cases and 7,451 deaths in the United States.
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However, Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry Lav Agarwal, who shared the data with the media, did not provide any age-specific analysis on mortality in the country, only saying that most of those who succumbed to the disease were “aged” and also had underlying complications such as the diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
Mr. Agarwal added that 9% of those testing positive were below 20 years.
The Ministry said the number of new cases recorded nationwide between Friday and Saturday was 601, with 58 critically ill in Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Delhi.
The death toll from the outbreak, according to data from State Health Departments, rose to 103 with Maharashtra reporting the maximum at 32. The most number of active cases were also reported from Maharashtra at 551, followed by Tamil Nadu with 476 and Delhi with 431 of the total 3,196 cases.