The Coronavirus, which is increasingly becoming a pandemic, has currently spread to 28 countries. That is, including the continent of Europe and parts of Africa.
Globally, the COVID-19 has it is otherwise known to have infected about 76,000 people. With the highest occurrence in China and South Korea. But in Europe, Italy has the most significant cases of Coronavirus, with people forced to remain in their homes.
As of now, there are only more signs that this virus will continue to spread.
COVID-19 is responsible for the death of 1,023 from China alone.
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Coronavirus Stats
Wuhan in the Hubei province of China has recorded the highest number of the virus to date. With the massive population that China possesses, it remains an issue to analyze the epidemiology of the coronavirus.
While almost anyone anywhere can contract this virus, the symptoms, and mortality on various demographic factors. Some of which are;
- Individuals with other chronic illness-
reports have it that people with other chronic diseases are prone to a higher risk of COVID-19 infection.
To date, there are about 5,000 reported cases of coronavirus in people with other morbid medical conditions, including illness such as high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, chronic lung disease. In such instances, the mortality rate is about 5-10%. While for other cases of COVID-19 with no other chronic illness, the death rate is about 1%.
- The elderly–
in the case of coronavirus, older individuals are more prone to death than younger ones. Out of the 1,408 cases recorded in patients above 80, 208 deaths have occurred, which gives a case fatality rate of about 15%. While in cases of patients between 10-19, there was only one death case. Of the 416 cases of COVID-19 in children of ages 0-9, no reported death case.
- January was worse than February-
for infections this February, the mortality rate is 1%. While those who got ill after the 10th of January had a mortality rate of 15%. Most likely, due to the increased awareness about the potentiality of getting infected, which has reached a global scale.
- Females tend to be better off than males-
according to analysis, females fare better than males in cases of coronavirus. A New York Times article last week explained the slight difference between the death rate of males and females infected by the virus.
Although men and women get infected roughly at the same rate, the mortality rate of men is about 2.8%, while that of females is about 1.7%, which applies to all age groups.
Interpretation of the Coronavirus Data
When considering data from MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome) and SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which were also pathogenic coronaviruses.
We observe that males have a higher death rate than females. Experiment on mice shows that removal of ovaries or blockage of estrogen made female mice susceptible to infection.
But naturally, male mice were more vulnerable to disease and infection-related mortality than male mice.
Another thing which is responsible for how immunes respond to infection and its mortality rate is the presence of X- chromosomes.
The presence of two X-chromosomes in females and the presence of one X-chromosome in males may be a reason for the differences in infection rate.
Also, cigarette smoking can influence chronic diseases, such as COVID-19. China alone has the largest deposit of smokers in the world.
Statistics show that more than half of Chinese men smoke, while only about 2% of Chinese women smoke.
Research says that women are more likely to seek health care assistance than men. Which means they tend to be aware of health issues quicker than men. While handwashing is an excellent preventive measure for most diseases, and it is recommended to reduce coronavirus.
Women are likely to wash their hands with soap more frequently than men.
All these are just some of the reasons why the mortality rate of men and women in regards to COVID-19 differs.
But surely, as the virus continues to spread, scientists will continue to work to find the cure.
