Sudharma Times
{13 September 2020
~ 19 September 2020}
Tech News
~by Gaurave
5G is seen as a game-changer for India
The launch of 5G-enabled technologies is expected to be transformative in the telco and other industries by unlocking various disruptive new technologies. Global investment in the 5G industrial chain over 2020-2035 is likely to reach US$ 3.5 trillion
5G is around the corner...and there is an ever-increasing euphoria amongst the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), the TMT ecosystem and the consumer community at large at the vast opportunities 5G will bring. Simply put, 5G is expected to be significantly smarter, faster and efficient compared to its legacy 3G and 4G predecessors. For instance, it holds a promise of 100 times more speed relative to 4G networks. The possibilities, with a network like this, are unfathomable.
The launch of 5G-enabled technologies is expected to be transformative in the telco and other industries by unlocking various disruptive new technologies. Global investment in the 5G industrial chain over 2020-2035 is likely to reach US$ 3.5 trillion. More than US$12 trillion sales are expected to be generated by global industry applications driven by 5G technology.
5G has the potential to become the world's predominant LAN and WAN technology over the couple of decades, especially in green-field rollouts. Organisations building new factories, ports, or campuses can significantly reduce their usage of wired connections. The next five years will likely see a boom in private 5G implementations at locations that would greatly benefit from better wireless technology-in terms of speed, capacity, latency, and more. Application and installation of the Private Networks could vary from a manufacturing facility, buildings, large campuses, notified or designated locations within geographies, healthcare and in mining sectors for autonomous mobility in areas where it is dangerous for humans to enter.
Closer to home, we expect significant application in 5G enabled internet of things - across smart cities and industry 4.0 use cases. Globally, these two areas account for nearly 44 per cent of 5G applications. Other applications likely to gain scale in India at a later date with enhancement in the coverage and technology are sensor based crop monitoring, remote machinery control, surveillance, energy management and smart transport.
1.Paytm returns to Google Play Store hours
after takedown
September
19,2020
Shortly before the Paytm Android app was reinstated on the Play
Store, Paytm tried to allay users' concerns in a blog post, assuring them that
their money is completely safe
Paytm has returned to Google Play Store hours after
being taken down on account of violating the app store's policies on gambling.
At the time of filing this report, the app was available for download and
update on Play Store.
Shortly before the Paytm Android app was reinstated on
the Play Store, Paytm tried to allay users' concerns in a blog post, assuring
them that their money is completely safe. The popular digital payment platform
said that it is talking to Google and the app will be back shortly.
The company clarified that users can continue to use the Paytm app like before.
"We assure all our users that their balances and linked
accounts are 100 per cent safe. Our services are fully functional on all
existing apps and you can continue enjoying Paytm like before," Paytm said
in the blog post.
Earlier today, Google had removed Paytm app from the its Play
Store over alllegations of running online casinos and allowing unregulated
gambling. It was in reference to the 'Paytm Cricket League' game in Paytm First
Games section on the consumer app that allows users to get player stickers
after each transaction, collect them and get cashback in exchange. Other apps
by Paytm - Paytm for Business, Paytm Mall, Paytm Money, Paytm Mall Store
Manager and Paytm Instore Orders - were available on the Play Store.
2.Financial frauds up due to digital dependence; Centre to come up
with Cyber Security Strategy: NSA
September 18,2020
Doval was delivering a virtual lecture at
the COCONXIII, a hacking and data privacy conference hosted by the Kerala
Police and Society for Policing of Cyberspace and Information Security Research
Association.
Urging citizens to be vigilant when online,
National Security Advisor (NSA) AjitDoval said financial frauds have surged
drastically during COVID-19 pandemic due to greater dependence on
digital payment platforms. He added the Centre was coming up with the National
Cyber Security Strategy-2020, which proposes a safe, secure, trustworthy,
reliant and vibrant cyberspace for India's prosperity.
"There is a greater dependence on
digital payment platforms due to reduced cash handling and greater data sharing
is happening online and presence on social media has also increased. While we
are able to manage our affairs online to a certain extent, malicious actors
also found in it a new opportunity," AjitDoval said.
Doval was delivering a virtual lecture at
the COCONXIII, a hacking and data privacy conference hosted by the Kerala
Police and Society for Policing of Cyberspace and Information Security Research
Association. According to the NSA, the work environment has changed due to the
COVID-19 pandemic. He said there was a 500% uptick in cyber crimes due to
limited awareness and cyber hygiene.
"Financial frauds have seen exponential
increase due to greater dependence on digital payment platforms. The
adversaries are tempted to exploit the crisis situation due to various
misinformation, fake news, etc. The huge cyber data floating in the cyber space
is a gold mine for extracting information that can undermine the privacy of our
citizens," Doval said.
3.Apple set to release iOS 14 today, iPadOS14, watchOS 7, tvOS 14 to
debut as well
September 17,2020
Apple is set to launch its latest iOS 14 software on Wednesday,
September 16, company's CEO Tim Cook revealed at Apple's virtual
event held on Tuesday (September 15).
The cult iPhone maker will also release its upcoming iPadOS 14,
watchOS 7, and tvOS 14 alongside iOS 14 for all compatible devices on
Wednesday. The iPadOS will come packed with features such as an enhanced search
experience, pull-down menus, and redesigned sidebars.
Although Cook did not divulge the release time of the software,
the iOS 14 is likely to reach compatible iPhone models and seventh-generation
iPod touch at around 10:30 pm, India time, on Wednesday.
iOS 14 update will be available for download on all iPhone models
in compatibility list of iOS 13.
This means the software will be supported on iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s
Plus, iPhone SE, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus,
iPhone X, iPhone XR, iPhone XS, iPhone XS Max, iPhone 11,
iPhone 11 Pro, iPhone 11 Pro Max, and the iPhone SE (2020).
Besides all these iPhone models, iOS 14 will also be compatible
with the seventh-generation iPod touch.
You can download iOS 14 on your iPhone or iPod touch once it
reaches your device by going to Settings>General>Software Update.
The software will also be downloaded automatically if you have
already chosen that option on your device.
Apple unveiled iOS 14 software as the next iteration in the iOS
family at WWDC (Worldwide Developer Conference) 2020 which was virtually held
in June this year.
The software comes with new Maps features, comprising adding
cycling as a transportation option, and routing for electric vehicle owners to
help them find charging points along the way. iOS14 also has an in-built
translator, improved security and privacy features in the Safari browser, and
an enhanced and redesigned Siri.
However, the privacy feature that allows iPhone users to opt-out
of in-app tracking will be delayed. Apple said the feature would not be
immediately enforced when iOS 14 software is released following a hullabaloo by
ad giants including Facebook, which lobbied against the proposal.
The Cupertino giant said it would give developers time until next
year to adjust to the changes.
4.FAU-G
not Sushant Singh Rajput's idea: Mumbai court passes order against rumours
September 15,2020
The restraining order was passed by the court after it was
approached by private companies GOQii Technologies Private Limited and
SudionCore Private Limited.
The Bombay City Civil Court has passed an interim order against
unknown persons, restraining them from posting and reposting social media
messages asserting that the online game FAU-G was the brainchild of
late actor Sushant Singh Rajput.
The court, in its order passed on Thursday, September 17 said that
the "miscreants/anti-social elements" disseminating "false and
defamatory tweets, videos, and messages" on several social media platforms
will be prosecuted "in furtherance of the criminal complaint already filed
before the law enforcement authorities."
The restraining order was passed by the court after it was
approached by private companies GOQii Technologies Private Limited and
SudionCore Private Limited.
The firms had claimed that they and others associated with them,
including ambassador actor Akshay Kumar, were being "caused great
hardship" by the alleged libelous messages, videos, etc being circulated
on social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Google,
and YouTube.
The companies also issued a press statement stating that if any "miscreant or anti-social element disseminates any false tweets, videos, and/or messages on any social media platforms" against them or those associated with them shall be liable for contempt of court.
Health
Related News
~by Nikhil
1. Jaipur Foot USA
announces free artificial limb fitment camp in Gujarat on PM Modi’s birthday
Jaipur Foot USA has said it will organise a state-level free artificial
limb fitment camp in Gujarat that will provide limbs, hearing aids, clutches
and wheelchairs to differently-abled persons.
Making the announcement on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 70th birthday,
Jaipur Foot USA Chairman Prem Bhandari said the camp will be organised as soon
as it is safe amid the pandemic. He said an inaugural function will take place
in Vadnagar, Modi’s birthplace, and the camp is likely to come up in Mehsana or
Ahmedabad.
The camp will provide Jaipur Foot limbs, hearing aids, clutches and
wheelchairs.
Bhandari said Jaipur Foot USA has communicated to the Prime Minister’s
Office about the planned camp.
As part of the 150th birth anniversary celebrations of Mahatma Gandhi, the
Ministry of External Affairs had launched the ‘India for Humanity’ initiative
in October 2018, under which 13 artificial limb fitment camps were organised in
12 countries and more than 6,500 artificial limbs were fitted.
The MEA had said the artificial limb fitment camps generated a lot of
goodwill for India in countries where these were organised such as in Malawi,
Iraq, Nepal, Egypt, Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Syria. India has been extending
humanitarian assistance under its Development Partnership which is derived by
its core value of Vasudhaiv Kutumbkam.
2. Coronavirus is
driving discrimination against migrants, foreigners in Asia, warns Red Cross
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies (IFRC) warned on Thursday that the novel coronavirus is
driving discrimination towards vulnerable communities in Asia, including
migrants and foreigners. The humanitarian agency surveyed 5,000 people in
Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar and Pakistan and found about half blamed a
specific group for spreading the coronavirus, with many mentioning Chinese
people, immigrants and foreigners. “It is particularly concerning that both
national migrant and foreign workers are blamed for the spread of COVID-19 as
they are quite vulnerable already,” Dr Viviane Fluck, one of the lead
researchers and the agency’s Asia Pacific community engagement and
accountability coordinator, told Reuters.
She said there should be more focus on combating
“rumors that are linked to underlying power dynamics and structural issues of
inequality”. More than half of the Indonesians surveyed blamed “foreigners and
rule-breakers” while in Myanmar, the groups most often thought to be
responsible were people from China and other foreigners. In Malaysia,
two-thirds blamed a “specific group”, most frequently mentioning migrants,
foreign tourists and “illegal foreigners”, the researchers said. Malaysian
authorities arrested hundreds of undocumented migrants and refugees in May in a
crackdown the United Nations said could push vulnerable groups into hiding and
prevent them from seeking treatment.
Police said at the time the operation was aimed
at preventing people from travelling amid movement curbs. In Pakistan, most
people surveyed blamed inadequate government controls on the Iranian border,
followed by nationals including pilgrims coming back from Iran and then people
from China. In all four countries, higher education had a small impact on
whether respondents blamed a specific group, with university graduates slightly
less likely to hold certain people responsible, the researchers said.
3. Coronavirus pandemic: One in 10 Covid-19 patients return
to hospital after being sent home from ER
16,Sep,2020
Nearly one in 10 patients diagnosed with COVID-19
needed to return to the hospital within a week of discharge from an emergency
department visit, according to a new study which assessed data from more than
1,400 patients who were admitted during the first three months of the pandemic.
The study, published in the journal Academic Emergency Medicine, assessed data
of COVID-19 patients from the Philadelphia region in the US between March and
May 2020. It found that factors like lower pulse oximetry levels, and fever
were some of the most telling symptoms that resulted in return trips that
resulted in admission. “We hope this study helps emergency clinicians have more
informed conversations with patients suspected to have COVID-19,” said the
study’s lead author Austin Kilaru from the University of Pennsylvania School of
Medicine in the US. “It can be difficult to make this diagnosis and send
patients home without knowing if they will get sick in the coming days. This
study gives clinicians a few signposts to know how often and when patients may
need to return, and what risk factors to pay attention to,” Kilaru said.
In the research, the scientists looked at 1,419
patients who went to an emergency department (ED) between March 1 and May 28,
2020, were discharged, and tested positive for COVID-19 in the seven days
surrounding that visit. According to the study, 4.7 per cent of the patients
returned to the hospital and were admitted within just three days for their
initial ED visit, and an additional 3.9 per cent were hospitalised within a week.
In total, the researchers said 8.6 percent of patients were coming back to the
hospital after their first ED visit due to COVID-19.
“We were surprised with the overall rate that
patients return and need admission, which is twice that of other illnesses,”
Kilaru explained. “The concern is not that emergency physicians are making
wrong decisions, but rather that COVID-19 can be unpredictable and turn severe
rather quickly,” he added.
Compared to patients in the 18 to 39 years of age
range, the researchers said those over 60 were more than five times as likely
to require hospitalisation after being discharged from their initial emergency
department visit. The study noted that people in the 40 to 59 age range were
three times as likely to require hospitalisation than the younger group.
When it came to individual symptoms, the
researchers said patients of any age with low pulse oximetry readings were
about four times as likely to require hospitalisation upon return as compared
to those with higher readings. They said patients with fevers were more than
three times as likely as compared to those without.
“If the patient had other factors such as an
abnormal chest X-ray, the likelihood of needing to come back to be hospitalised
goes up even more,” said the study’s senior author, M. Kit Delgado from the
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine.
However the researchers said there were no signs
of differences along racial or gender lines.
“This further contributes to the evidence that
the known racial disparities in COVID mortality are not related to differences
in care and outcomes among patients once treated in the same hospital system,”
Delgado said. Rather, the disparities are structural related to the higher
rates of infection and access to care in low-income communities, which are
disproportionately Black and Hispanic,” he added.
The scientists believe the findings can better
inform doctors on who is most appropriate for home recovery, and underscored
the need for remote monitoring as a useful tool for looking after COVID-19
patients.
4.Covid-19
pandemic: Tiny antibody completely neutralises novel coronavirus
15,Sep,2020
Scientists, including one of Indian origin, have isolated the smallest
biological molecule to date that they say completely and specifically
neutralises the SARS-CoV-2 virus which cause Covid-19. Ten times smaller than a
full-sized antibody, the molecule has been used to construct a drug -- known as
Ab8 -- for potential use as a therapeutic and prophylactic against SARS-CoV-2,
according to the study published in the journal Cell.
The researchers, including Sriram Subramaniam from the University of
British Columbia in Canada, found that Ab8 is highly effective in preventing
and treating SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice and hamsters. Its tiny size not only
increases its potential for diffusion in tissues to better neutralise the
virus, but also makes it possible to administer the drug by alternative routes,
including inhalation, the researchers said. The drug does not bind to human
cells, which is a good sign that it won’t have negative side-effects in people,
they said. “Ab8 not only has potential as therapy for COVID-19, but it also
could be used to keep people from getting SARS-CoV-2 infections,” said study
co-author John Mellors, from the University of Pittsburgh in the US.
“Antibodies of larger size have worked against other infectious diseases
and have been well tolerated, giving us hope that it could be an effective
treatment for patients with COVID-19 and for protection of those who have never
had the infection and are not immune,” Mellors said. The tiny antibody
component is the variable, heavy chain (VH) domain of an immunoglobulin, which
is a type of antibody found in the blood. It was found by “fishing” in a pool
of more than 100 billion potential candidates using the SARS-CoV-2 spike
protein as bait, the researchers said.
Ab8 is created when the VH domain is fused to part of the immunoglobulin
tail region, adding the immune functions of a full-size antibody without the
bulk, they said. Clinical trials are testing convalescent plasma -- which
contains antibodies from people who already had COVID-19 -- as a treatment for
those battling the infection, but there isn’t enough plasma for those who might
need it, and it isn’t proven to work. The researchers set out to isolate the
gene for one or more antibodies that block the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which would
allow for mass production.
5. Startup soars,
providing in-house health care in the time of the coronavirus pandemic
The U.S. emergency department, long an imperfect shelter for those with
non-urgent medical needs, is perhaps the last place you want to be amid a
pandemic.
Covid-19 has aggravated an already-broken U.S. health-care system in which
at least 30% of emergency department visits were deemed unneeded before the
virus’s arrival. Patients with less urgent conditions often wait hours for
care, and they’re usually left with a hefty bill. Now, a new heath-care model
is seeking to bridge the gap between clinical care and telemedicine, offering
hands-on medical aid inside people’s homes.
In a time of Covid, a company known simply as Ready is logging more than
15,000 visits and 10,000 Covid-19 tests a month to patients in New York City,
Los Angeles, the District of Columbia, Reno, Miami, and even the marshy bayous
outside New Orleans. When called, Ready quickly dispatches an EMT or paramedic
to a patient’s home. There, its so-called Responders work with doctors linked
through iPads to take vitals, diagnose problems, prescribe therapies or, if
needed, escalate cases to the closest ER.
While this may sound like a concierge service for the rich, Ready’s target
market is Medicaid, the insurance program for low-income Americans that’s
accounted for about half of its patient visits.
“Covid accelerated a trend that had already begun, which is a shift from
institutional brick-and-mortar urgent care to the home setting,” according to
Julian Harris, a Ready board member. “It’s impressive to see the organization
rise to the challenge of providing care in the most difficult of times, in
places and to populations that other companies have not focused on.” That’s
“compelling for an investor,” he said.
In Ready’s latest Series C fundraiser, to be announced this week, investors
including GV, the venture-capital arm of Google parent Alphabet Inc., pumped in
another $54 million to help boost Ready’s valuation to $354 million. Other
repeat investors included Deerfield Management Co. and Town Hall Ventures, the
fund launched by Andy Slavitt, the former acting administrator of the Center
for Medicare and Medicaid Services under the Obama administration.
The idea for Ready came during a trip to Israel by serial entrepreneur
Justin Dangel, 46, now the company’s chief executive officer. Dangel was
galvanized by a nonprofit that equipped Israeli EMTs with motorcycles and
defibrillators, with the objective of beating ambulances to patients and
victims of trauma.
A health-care outsider, Dangel later spoke with EMTs in the U.S. about the
service. That sparked talks about ways to utilize EMTs to relieve pressure on
the U.S. system and, eventually, to the birth of Ready, which treated its first
patient in 2018.
But it’s been the pandemic that’s validated the business model, drawn new
capital and talent, and fueled the company’s growth. With Covid-19,
telemedicine use has reached record highs. Ready, meanwhile, has seen a
five-fold surge in demand for its services since March. “This is a social
impact project that’s gotten out of control,” Dangel said.
On the last Monday of March, as a flood of virus cases pushed New York to a
breaking point, Governor Andrew Cuomo pleaded during a news briefing for
health-care workers to come to the city to help.
Ready had planned to begin services in New York in 2021. But hearing that
call spurred the company to reach out to Cuomo’s office with an idea: Ready
could conduct Covid-19 tests within the city’s public housing complexes.
“It was the perfect fit,” said Gareth Rhodes, deputy superintendent to the
New York State Department of Financial Services. “It wasn’t just about bringing
a test, it was about providing an opening to a whole plethora of health-care
services.”
Abel Collado, 25, is a paramedic and firefighter from the Bronx. He was
just weeks into his new job at Ready when the partnership launched. The company
had fewer than 15 Responders in the city at the time, and Collado was tasked
with conducting testing in the communities he grew up in.
“Words can’t describe what it’s like to be a young adult who is born and raised,
and grew up on these streets, and is still living in them, to serve these
people,” Collado said. Treating patients from within their homes has allowed
Collado to better address the socio-economic factors that influence health
outcomes. Some have little means of transportation, while others lacking a
primary care physician aren’t able to easily get their medications. Many can’t
speak English.
Collado has since become a supervisor, and has been pivotal to the
recruitment of 150 full and part-time Responders employed by the company that
have conducted more than 5,500 visits and 3,600 Covid-19 tests for New York
City Housing Authority residents. Now, Ready is seeing New Yorkers outside of
the partnership with the state as well.
More than 1,300 miles away in Louisiana, Ochsner Health System Inc. has
also turned to Ready to conduct Covid-19 tests. In this case, they’re not just
for symptomatic patients, but for the immuno-compromised preparing for surgery
or chemotherapy. Ready also handles follow-up when patients are discharged.
Well before the virus swept the nation, Louisiana’s largest health system
decided to take a chance on a startup headquartered in New Orleans after
struggling for years to reduce unneeded ER visits. Ready was integrated into
Ochsner’s medical triage platform in 2018, creating a pathway for Responders to
beeline directly to some of their first patients’ homes. It also created an
appointment-based community health-care program for Ochsner’s “Medicaid
frequent-fliers”—underserved patients who often seek care in the ER.
Alexi Deville is a 26-year-old EMT from Metairie, Louisiana. She meets with
Medicaid patients identified by Ochsner once a week for as long as three
months. Working with doctors online, she treats their allergies, coughs, and
rashes. She also finds them in-network primary care doctors, schedules
appointments and gets prescriptions refilled, she said. “I’ve been here all my
life,” Deville said. “I know these faces.”
Ochsner saw a 70% reduction in non-emergency ER visits between June 2018
and Dec. 2019 as a result of this service, said Harry Reese, Jr., the system’s
vice president of post-acute and home care. “We saw it as a cost-effective
model that could be scaled quickly,” Reese said.
New York and Ochsner don’t pay Ready directly for these services. Instead,
the company gets reimbursed by insurers. Its pitch to health-systems: Give us
access to your patients and we’ll take care of the rest. Its pitch to payers:
We’re cheaper than the ER.
The average ER bill is $2,000 per visit, according Premier Inc., which
helps thousands of hospitals and health systems manage costs. Premier estimates
that if those 3 in 10 “unnecessary” visits could be prevented or managed in
lower-cost settings, $2.5 billion could be saved yearly.
Ready’s services cost payers $150 to $200. For patients seeking Covid-19
tests who don’t have insurance, Ready is reimbursed by the U.S. government
under a series of recent economic stimulus packages.
It’s cheap in comparison because Ready has little overhead, employing
around 70 physicians, clinicians and nurse practitioners who squeeze plenty of
20-minute stops into the workday, a time frame Dangel said is more than
two-times longer than the average ER or urgent-care visit. Ready contracts with
Teledoc Health Inc. when it needs additional licensed medical officials.
Meanwhile, its 450 full and part-time EMTs and paramedics—a cheaper form of
medical labor—are able to deliver the care in person. That gives the company a
“structural advantage” over an emerging field of rivals, Dangel said.
“It’s not like the hospital, where brick-and-mortar business is such that
it loses money on Medicaid, but makes it on commercial patients,” said Harris,
the board member who is also a partner at Deerfield, and who was the federal
government’s chief health-care financial officer from 2013 to 2015.In 2021,
Ready plans to launch a pilot program that will allow more than 100 doctors to
dispatch responders into their patients’ homes. “We’re building a technology
platform that can be sold separately,” and scaled nationally, Harris said. “You
can expect that ultimately people will have access to Ready Responders in every
city in America.”
6. Obesity,
diabetes raise Covid-19 death risk
Young adults with the coronavirus
disease (Covid-19) usually get mild symptoms, but risks of complications and
death rise significantly for people under 35 with obesity, hypertension and
diabetes, according to a new research.
An analysis of clinical profiles of
3,222 young adults (aged 18-34 years; mean age of 28.3 years) hospitalised for
Covid-19 between April 1 and June 30 in 419 hospitals in the US revealed that
21% of them needed intensive care, 10% required mechanical ventilation, and
2.7% died.
Morbid obesity, diabetes and
hypertension were the most common risk factors in young adults, with those
having more than one of these conditions facing risks comparable to older
adults having no pre-existing illnesses, reported a study published in JAMA
Internal Medicine, which is the journal of the American Medical Association.
The study found that 36.8% of
hospitalised young adults were obese, 24.5% were morbidly obese, 18.2% had
diabetes, and 16.1% had hypertension (morbid obesity, hypertension and being
male are associated with greater risk of mechanical ventilation and death).
In India too, men with Covid-19 are
twice more likely to die than women, with men accounting for 69% of all deaths,
reveals health ministry data. People under 40 with Covid-19 account for fewer
than 10% of total Covid-19 deaths in India, with deaths being the highest in
the 61-70 years age group in both genders.
“People under 40 usually have mild
disease and most cases can be managed at home or in Covid Care Homes. Those who
are hospitalised almost always have co-morbidities like obesity, diabetes and
hypertension, and less than 5% need ICU admission. But if they do and are put
on ventilator, their vascular risk increases and their chances of getting a
heart attack or stroke becomes the same as older adults,” said Dr Yatin Mehta,
chairman Institute of Critical Care and Anaesthesiology, Medanta The Medicity,
Gurugram.
Covid-19 has also been called a
vascular disease as it leads to the formation of blood clots in arteries and
veins, which can block blood supply to the heart, brain and lungs and lead to
stroke, heart attack and respiratory failure.
“If you are obese, you are likely to
be diabetic or have hypertension, and vice versa, so the risk is compounded,”
said Dr Mehta.
The progression of Covid-19-induced
thrombosis is very rapid in young adults, with deaths often occurring within 24
hours of hospitalisation. “Older adults die of pneumonia and other
Covid-19-related complications, but sudden, unexpected death is more common in
young adults in their 20s and 30s, whose condition dips very rapidly. In such
cases, the cause of death is usually cardiovascular, with abnormal clotting in
brain, lungs and heart leading to cardiac arrest,” said Dr Shiv K Sarin,
director, Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences, New Delhi.
At Max SuperSpecialty in New Delhi’s
Saket, people under 40 account for less than 4.5% deaths, with 29% deaths
occurring in those between 40 and 59 years old, and 47% deaths in the 60-74 age
group.
Those over 75 years account for 18%
deaths at the hospital. “Young people have mild disease and rarely need
hospitalsiation, but they need to be isolated to break the chain of infection,
which makes testing, tracking and treating important, as does social distancing
and wearing masks,” said Dr Sandeep Budhiraja, clinical director, Max
Healthcare.
“We should not look at the absolute
number of cases and deaths; those will always be high, given India’s large
population. What we must look at is deaths per million, and India has 56 deaths
per million compared to 596 for the US and 61 for Brazil, which remain far
lower than other countries even if you factor in some amount of
under-reporting...,” said Dr Budhiraja.
Four young adults, the takeaway is
that those with obesity, diabetes, and hypertension share the same risks as
older adults. So they must seek Covid-19 treatment under supervision from the
moment they get their test results.
