With a massive second wave of Covid-19 sweeping through India, one in five infections in the world is currently being reported from the cou...
With a massive second wave of Covid-19 sweeping through India, one in five infections in the world is currently being reported from the country.
How is India’s second wave different from the first?
To start with, the second wave is spreading much, much faster than the first, as visible in this graphic.
Many experts believe the surge is partly fuelled by new strains of the coronavirus, including a more infectious homegrown variant found in 61% of samples genome sequenced in Maharashtra, the worst hit state. The laxity in preventive measures, coupled with the presence of new variants, has resulted in a nationwide crisis. Many states are reporting shortages of hospital beds, oxygen supply, medicines, even space in morgues and crematoriums.
What is still unclear is whether the second wave is manifesting in different demographic and clinical outcomes. Are more young people getting infected and hospitalised, as is currently the case in Brazil, also in the throes of an out-of-control pandemic? Are children more vulnerable this time? Is the virus more infectious and the disease more severe?
There is no clear data to answer some of these questions yet.
But here is what doctors and experts are saying.
Are more younger patients infected?
Since the start of the pandemic till December, those below the age of 45 accounted for 60%...
