Younger people contracting Covid-19 in second wave in J&K is worrying: Experts

IMCR maintains that there was no evidence of the younger population being at greater risk in ongoing wave

The second wave of coronavirus in Jammu and Kashmir, which has been adding caseloads every passing day, is witnessing a growing number of younger age group patients, a stark difference from the last year when the virus had more elderly victims.

“The young are getting sick and there is rapid progress of disease in some. The situation is serious as at present a number of patients in the age group of 30 to 45 years are admitted with pneumonia. And the condition of some deteriorates fast,” said Dr Naveed Shah, head department of Chest Medicine at Government Medical College (GMC), Srinagar.

His views were echoed by Dr Mohammad Sultan Khuroo, chairperson of J&K Apex Level Advisory Committee on Covid-19 response.

“Earlier the focus was on protecting elderly people having comorbidities, but it is severe now and is involving younger people. Earlier it was behaving mildly but now infection is severe among young people too," he said.

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“Although in very few but severe Covid-19 infection can affect lungs of younger people and in a few cases, there can be inflammatory syndrome,” Dr Khuroo said and advised young people to remain more vigilant as the vaccination process hasn’t been started for them.

However, Dr Parvaiz A Koul, renowned influenza expert, said not just in Kashmir, this phenomenon is global. “Yes, now it is affecting younger ones as well,” he said.

“The comparison was not between younger and older but between the numbers of infected people in their 30s and 40s in 2020 and 2021. It is not just that more people in young age groups are testing positive, but also that many of them have severe illness. Even in children, there are infections and severe symptoms now,” Dr Koul said.

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However, going by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) data from hospitalized Covid-19 patients during the first and the second spell of the pandemic, the claims of younger people getting affected more in the second wave is proving to be false.

The ICMR on Monday said, “There was no evidence of the younger population being at greater risk in the ongoing wave and that the proportion of death in the hospitalised patients also hasn’t changed between the two waves. Rather the studies reflect that there is no change in the age profile, older people are still more prone to this virus.”