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Young- The Inadvertent Agents for Spreading COVID-19
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Young- The Inadvertent Agents for Spreading COVID-19

Publication Year : 2020
Author: Saima Bashir
Explore More : Blog, covid-19

So far, the health message has been clear – the older you are, the more at risk you are from coronavirus. But the World Health Organization (WHO) has warned young people not to view themselves as “invincible”. Special Advisor to the Prime Minster (SAPM), Dr. Zafar Mirza, said on Thursday March 26 that 24 percent of the confirmed corona patients in Pakistan are between the ages of 21-30 years. The statistics reveal that the pattern of COVID-19 is quite different in Pakistan from the other countries, including China and Italy where most of the infected cases are the elderly. Early reports that only the elderly, i.e. 65 and above, are vulnerable are also being controverted by new evidence coming from the United States and Europe. Recent figures show that young adults are catching the virus too. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that though fatality rate is the highest among older adults i.e. 85 and above, “COVID-19 can result in hospitalization and admission to an intensive care unit for a range of ages”. According to CDC 20% of the people who are hospitalized are between the ages of 20-44 and another 18% are between 45-54 years. Of those admitted to intensive care, 12% were aged 20-44 years.