In a worrisome development, a study conducted by the World Health Organisation (WHO) this week, found high COVID-19 rate in 0-19 age group in India. The COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update, released by the world health body, also found a higher mortality rate and more frequent incidences of post-vaccination infections with Delta variant as compared to others of non-variant lineage

“Using viral genomic sequences from 9,500 COVID-19 patients, the study found an increased number of infections among younger age groups (0-19 years) and women, a lower mean age for infection and symptomatic illness/hospitalisation, higher mortality and more frequent incidences of post-vaccination infections with Delta variant compared to the non-VOC (B.1) variant,” the WHO update said.

Globally, the number of weekly COVID-19 cases and deaths continued to decline. This is a trend that has been observed since August. Over 3.1 million new cases and just over 54 000 new deaths were reported during the week of 27 September to 3 October 2021. Cases this week decreased by 9 per cent as compared to the previous week, while deaths remained similar, the WHO informed.

“The largest decrease in new weekly cases was reported from the African Region (43%), followed by the Eastern Mediterranean Region (21%), the South-East Asia Region (19%), the Region of the Americas (12%) and the Western Pacific (12%). The cumulative number of confirmed cases reported globally is now over 234 million and the cumulative number of deaths is just under 4.8 million,” the report stated.

Meanwhile, India recorded 21,257 fresh COVID-19 cases and 271 deaths, the Union health ministry informed today. The death toll climbed to 4,50,127 with 271 new fatalities. The case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent.

The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,32,25,221.