Over 25,000 Tablighis quarantined as rising cases keep India on tenterhooks

Since Sunday, 693 new positive cases have been registered, taking the tally to 4,281.

India has quarantined over 25,500 people linked to Islamic sect Tablighi Jamaat, and sealed five villages in Haryana, as the total number of Covid-19-positive cases crossed the 4,000-mark, government officials said on Monday.
 

Since Sunday, more than 704 new positive cases have been registered, taking the tally to 4,281. Of these, 1,455 include workers of Tablighi Jamaat and those who came in contact with them, show health ministry figures.
 

So far, 111 people have died of the Covid infection, according to health ministry data. While 63 per cent of the deaths were seen in people above 60 years of age, only 19 per cent of those infected belonged to that age bracket.
 

More than 86 per cent who died had comorbidities — including diabetes, kidney- or heart-related problems — which shows that even the young are at risk if they have any of these conditions. According to government data, 37 per cent of the deaths were of those below 60.
 

Only 7 per cent of the deaths were recorded among people below 40. However, most of those infected — 47 per cent — also belonged to the same age bracket.
 

“Social distancing and the lockdown have to be followed if we want to break the chain. The young, with co-morbidities, can be at risk too... They should be careful of passing on the infection to elders in their family,” said Luv Aggarwal, joint secretary health ministry.

Men outnumber women

The gender-wise breakup of those infected also shows that it is largely men who have caught the infection. About 76 per cent of Covid patients are male, and 24 per cent female. Among those who succumbed to the virus, 73 per cent were male.
 

Even globally, the impact has been harder on men. According to data collected by Global Health 50/50 — an organisation based in University College of London — above half the Covid deaths were among men across 14 countries including China, Iran, Italy, South Korea, and Germany.
 

In South Korea, for example, men made up 40 per cent of confirmed cases, accounting for 53 per cent of deaths. In Ireland so far, men have accounted for 48 per cent of confirmed cases, and 69 per cent of deaths.
 

The report said the rates of tobacco smoking and alcohol consumption are substantially higher in men. “These behaviours are associated with both the risk of developing co-morbidities found to be associated with adverse outcomes in Covid-19, as well as with behaviours intimately bound up with gender norms, and how these norms are constructed and exploited in societies,” the Global Health 50/50 report said.
 

In Italy and Denmark, around 71 per cent of deaths were among men. The lower level of infection among women in India could also be due to lesser social activity and interaction compared to men.
 

Containing corona
 

The government has released Rs 3,000 crore to states under the state disaster relief fund and the National Health Mission to fund activities such as surveillance, quarantine facilities, and purchase of medical equipment, said Aggarwal. On the use of hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug, in the treatment of Covid, the government said the evidence was too limited at present to recommend usage.