The deadly second wave of Coronavirus pandemic is affecting a slightly more number of younger people, stated Dr Balram Bhargava, the head of the Indian Council of Medical Research. He added that this surge in Covid cases across the country is mainly because of two reasons.
"We have found that younger people are getting slightly more involved because suddenly they have gone out and there are variants also prevalent in the nation which may be affecting the younger people as well,” he said.
He added that the comparison of data during the first and second wave of Coronavirus has shown that there is not much age difference.
When asked whether the Centre is taking any step to start vaccination of children who are said to be targeted in the third wave of the pandemic, Dr Bhargava answered, "We have been analysing the date since August. People above the age of 45 years are more vulnerable to any adverse outcome and the hospitalised mortality is around 9.6 to 9.7 per cent.”
The Centre has denied reports of a shift in age group in March.
In April, the Centre showed data claiming that in the first wave, 31 per cent of people under the age of 30 years impacted while in 2021, the percentage increased to 32.
On Tuesday, the government said that an early trend of drop in daily new Covid-19 cases and deaths has been seen in the country.
Also Read: COVID: Delhi’s lockdown is keeping disaster at bay, ICMR Head
According to the government, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana were among 18 states and union territories showing continued plateauing or decline in daily new Coronavirus cases.
Recently, the government's principal scientific advisor K Vijay Raghavan stated that the country should be prepared for a third wave of the pandemic which can be prevented if adequate precautions are taken. Various reports have also claimed that the third wave will impact children more.
Also Read: Western Command Covid Hospital opens in Patiala
Maharashtra and Chattisgarh have already started setting up paediatric covid care centres in the state preparing for the third wave.