Young and infected: COVID-19's new patients as India battles huge surge
18 April, 2021
Ajay Singh Yadav only managed your final video call with Raj Karan before his good friend became the latest of an alarming number of young Indians, including children, falling victim to the COVID-19 wave sweeping the united states.
Some doctors say the reason why that under-45s are now vulnerable is that they go to work and eat out more, but there is absolutely no definitive proof.
They could also be more prone to a fresh "double mutant" variant within 60 % of samples in Maharashtra, the hardest-hit state.
Karan, 38, was campaigning in village elections when he fell ill. Yadav rushed him to a hospital, but he too tested positive and was placed into isolation.
"I am devastated ... I possibly could only see him with a video call," Yadav, 39, told AFP in the northern city of Lucknow.
The nation of just one 1.3 billion persons has been hit by a new wave which has caused 1 million positive tests in a week, and authorities are rattled.
In the beginning of the year, India thought it had beaten the pandemic and had kicked off a mass vaccination drive.
Face masks and social distancing were cast aside and huge crowds flocked to religious festivals and election rallies.
However in hospitals, doctors started warning of a growth in cases, including a new phenomenon - younger patients - for an illness usually considered riskier for older adults.
CHILDREN IN HOSPITAL
In a country where around 65 % of the populace is under 35, there is growing concern about the effect on the young.
New Delhi's chief minister Arvind Kejriwal has said 65 % of new patients are below 45.
India's medical research agency doesn't have a demographic break down of cases, but doctors in major cities confirmed that more young patients are coming to hospitals.
"We are also seeing children beneath the ages of 12 and 15 being admitted with symptoms in the next wave. Last year there were practically no children," said Khusrav Bajan, a consultant at Mumbai's PD Hinduja National Hospital and an associate of Maharashtra's COVID-19 task force.
In Gujarat state, pulmonologist Amit Dave said young persons were experiencing "increased severity" from the coronavirus for his or her lungs, hearts and kidneys.
One Gujarat hospital has set up the state's first paediatric coronavirus ward.
States across India have reported a similar increase of young patients.
In the southern IT hub of Bangalore, under-40s made up 58 per cent of infections in early April, up from 46 per cent last year, data aggregator Covid19india.org said.
VARIANTS AND VACCINES
"I haven't seen such a rise in cases in the last one year as I've observed in the last seven days," Delhi-based book publicist Tanu Dogra, 28, who was bedridden for weekly after testing positive in March told AFP.
"Everybody on my timeline, on my WhatsApp, is frantically messaging the other person because they've all tested positive."
In Brazil - which just like the remaining world had more serious cases and deaths among the elderly through the first wave - doctors are also seeing an increased prevalence of younger patients.
Experts say more data is required to back up the anecdotal evidence in India, with genome sequencing of samples playing a key role.
"Sequencing will inform you of the mutant that's emerging," added virologist Shahid Jameel.
"But it doesn't take away from everything else you should be doing - that's to wear a mask and steer clear of crowded places."
Authorities have imposed weekend lockdowns and night curfews to stem the virus spread.
But medical professionals say India's sluggish vaccination drive - currently limited by over-45s - also needs to be exposed to everyone.
Their call was echoed by young Indians in Delhi, who told AFP they felt more exposed because they had to go to work, many as breadwinners for his or her families.
"Right now young persons need (vaccines) more ... I see every day that people within their early 30s are getting hospitalised," 25-year-old pharmacist, Muzammil Ahmed, told AFP.
With hospitals overwhelmed, specialists like Venkat Ramesh, an infectious disease consultant at the Apollo Hospital in Hyderabad, said the crisis has already been "severe" with worse to come.
"When I talk with my colleagues in major metropolitan cities across India, they have numerous calls from patients trying to locate a bed," Ramesh told AFP.
"I'm quite afraid for another a month. Given the rapidity of the rise in cases, it is certainly worrying."
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