Not The Elderly, The Highest Increase In COVID-19 Deaths In The Last Month Precisely Ages 31-59 Years

ILLUSTRATION/BETWEEN

JAKARTA - Head of the Data and Information Technology Division of the COVID-19 Handling Task Force, Dewi Nur Aisyah, explained the number of deaths from COVID-19 cases in the last month based on age classification.

Not the elderly over 60 years as a vulnerable group, Dewi said that the highest increase in mortality was in the age group of 31-59 years.

"The highest increase in deaths from June to July actually occurred not at the age of over 60 years. In July we began to find many deaths at a younger age under 60 years old," said Dewi in a virtual discussion, Wednesday, August 4.

Dewi divided the two age groups of the highest COVID-19 deaths. First, in the distribution of the age of 46 to 59 years, which was originally 2,500 deaths in June, it rose to 13,000 deaths or about 5 times the death rate.

Then the distribution of the age of 31 to 45 years which was initially only 964 became 5,159 or five times higher than in June.

"For those aged 60 years and over, the increase is only 267 percent, but for ages 46 to 59 the increase is 437 percent and for those aged 31 to 45 years, the increase is 435 percent. So, we actually see an increasing trend in the two age groups," he said.

If you look at the case fatality rate of COVID-19 or the case fatality rate (CFR), cases of death at the age of 60 years and over in July amounted to 10.86 percent of deaths from the total cases in that age group. This figure decreased from June of 10.86 percent.

In contrast, the CFR of the age group 46 to 59 years in July was 5.33 percent. This figure increased from the CFR in June of 3.48 percent.

Then, the CFR for the age group 31 to 45 years in July was 1.47 percent and increased from 0.97 percent in June.

"This age group also has a very high risk now. Maybe because most of them are still working and their mobility is high, they may feel they are still healthy. But when it gets worse it can be fatal resulting in death," explained Dewi.