Assam coronavirus toll 50% of death among over 60-year olds

STAFF REPORTER

GUWAHATI: The death of as many as six COVID-19 patients, mostly aged ones, in a single day has sent a shockwave in the State. As much as 50 per cent of the 22 people who died of COVID-19 in the State are over 60 years of age. The causes of death of four other patients are yet to be ascertained.

In the past 12 hours on Wednesday, six persons died of the viral attack – four in the Gauhati Medical College & Hospital (GMCH), one each in the Tezpur Medical College & Hospital (TMCH) and Jorhat Medical College & Hospital (JMCH). According to Health department sources, all the four who died on Wednesday in the GMCH were in ICU – one person was 75-year old, another was 68-year old and two others were 60-year old each. The person who died in the TMCH on Wednesday was 30 years old and the one who died in JMCH was 19 year old.

Sources in the State Health department said that if people over 60 years of age get infected with COVID-19, it is very difficult to save them, especial if they have other ailments as well. "This is the reason why we keep on appealing to people above 60 years of age to stay indoors. All the four aged persons who died in the GMCH on Wednesday had other diseases as well," a source in the department said.

Giving a glimpse on the age-wise COVID-19 toll in the State, the source said, "Of the total 22 COVID-19 death in the State, five were below 40 years of age, five were above 50 years of age, 10 were above 60 years of age and the ages of two were not known. The causes of four other deaths are yet to reach us from the ICMR (Indian Council for Medical Research)."

"The recovery rate of COVID-19 patients in the State is 62 per cent against a very low death rate. Most of the COVID patients in the State are asymptomatic. They're in COVID care centres, and we just observe their oxygen level. If their oxygen level falls, they become serious needing their admission into COVID Hospital. What's important is isolating them from other people in society."

The first COVID death in the State took place on April 10 this year when Tablighi Jamaluddin breathed his last.

After that, the State COVID cases crossed the 1,000 mark on May 29 and the 13,000 mark on July 7.

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