Covid-19 crisis: Higher fatalities among women, youth in Tamil Nadu during second wave

There has been no change in distribution of cases by gender in the second wave, with women and men accounting for 40% and 60%, respectively

In Tamil Nadu, the fatality rate among women in the second wave of Covid-19 has increased to 33.5 per cent, from 27 per cent in the first wave.

Fatality rate among women and youth have gone up in the second wave, according to a comparison study in Tamil Nadu by The Hindu.

However, there has been no change in the distribution of cases by gender in the second wave, with women and men accounting for 40 per cent and 60 per cent, respectively. The percentage of women testing positive for Covid-19 in both waves have remained the same, but the death rate has increased drastically in the second wave.

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The elderly above 60 years of age have reported a decline in the number of deaths, from 61 per cent to 56.3 per cent. The positive cases in this age group have gone up to 14.4 per cent in the second wave from 13.2 per cent in the first one.

Like most of the country, there has been a steep increase in the number of deaths reported daily by Tamil Nadu. The state has reported 1,200 deaths in the past week. Between July and September last year, 7,200 deaths were reported in total across 12 weeks. The fatality rate is now at 1.03 per cent as compared to 1.62 per cent between July and September 2020 — the peak period in the first wave.

“People are not staying indoors and, therefore, there is more exposure for people of all age groups, including children, leading to more infections,” V Ramasubramanian, senior consultant, infectious diseases, Apollo Hospitals, told the publication.

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Those in the age group of 21-60 years have shown a sharp increase from 38.7 per cent to 43.6 per cent in positive cases. The youth between the age group of 21-40 years has an increased fatality rate of 6.9 per cent from 4.9 per cent in the first wave.

V. Ramasubramanian said a major reason for the youth getting more infected as compared to last year is due to negligence and the perception that this disease only affects the elderly.