BHUBANESWAR: Two youths, aged 24 and 38 of Nuapada district, succumbed to Covid-19 recently without having any comorbidities which are cited as major reasons behind the deaths of patients. Health department sources said with low oxygen saturation level, the 24-year-old was admitted on April 8 and died after two days of struggle for life.
The other was hospitalised on April 15 and declared dead on April 18. Both of them were having severe respiratory distress when they were admitted to Covid hospital. They later developed acute respiratory distress syndrome and succumbed to the disease. Not only are more people without comorbidities dying in the State, the disease is killing them young this time around.
Going by Health department data, six of the eight people who succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours were not suffering from any disease other than Covid and five of the six were in the 42 to 56 age group. A total of 52 people have died so far in April, 17 of whom had no comorbidities, while only one death was recorded in the first month of the pandemic during the first wave last year.
This time, the age group of 25 to 45 years looks more vulnerable both for catching the infection and falling victim to the disease. Nearly 40 per cent (per cent) of the fatalities were from the youth age group and 45 per cent were middle-aged. The share of senior citizens was only around 15 per cent. The 60-plus group was the most vulnerable during the first wave.
Sources said the cases spread rapidly in the western Odisha districts as people there travelled to the worst hit-Chhattisgarh without any precautions and returned infected. Among the deceased, it was also found that many got hospitalised only after their oxygen saturation dropped below 70 per cent and most of them were regularly consuming alcohol.
Director of Health Services Dr Bijay Kumar Mohapatra said there is a contrast in fatalities between the two waves. It is the young who are now most vulnerable for not complying with the Covid appropriate behaviour. Since many senior citizens have taken vaccines - either double dose or single dose, they are less susceptible to the infection if they follow the Covid norms, he said.
In yet another record high, the State reported 6,251 new cases in the last 24 hours. While the highest 950 cases were detected from Khurda and 684 from Sundargarh, western Odisha districts - Kalahandi and Nuapada - registered 682 and 446 cases respectively.
The State Capital Bhubaneswar hit another peak of 698 cases, the biggest single day spike so far pushing the active cases to 4,417. The test positivity rate (TPR) shot up to 14 per cent with the city conducting 5,000 tests, including 3,661 through RT-per centR during the period. The TPR in Kalahandi was the highest at 53.74 per cent followed by Sundargarh 38.21 per cent and Nuapada at 33 per cent.