ICMR Says Younger Population Hospitalised, Died During Omicron Surge

Over 10 percent of vaccinated patients and 22 percent of unvaccinated or partially vaccinated hospitalised patients died in the months of December- January, according to a soon to be published study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR)

Dr. Balrama Bhargava, the Director-General of the ICMR discussed on Thursday some of the findings of the study that was conducted across 37 hospitals between December 16, 2021 and January 15, 2022.

Without stating numbers, the director-general added that 91 percent of the vaccinated patients had co-morbidities whereas 83 percent of the unvaccinated or partially vaccinated had pre-existing co-morbidities.

The study compared mean hospitalisation age and symptoms of those hospitalised during the Omicron surge with those during the previous month of November 15-December 15, 2021 when Delta was majorly predominant in the country.

Citing the yet to be published study, Dr. Bhargava also emphasised how the Omicron variant is affecting people younger than it was earlier believed. He said that the mean age of patients who are undergoing hospitalisation is 44, 11 years younger than the mean age of 55 that they witnessed when Delta was more prominent in the country.

Close to 46 percent of these 956 patients had co-morbidities as compared to 66 percent of the 564 hospitalised earlier.

Sore throat was the most common symptom witnessed among 956 people hospitalised.

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Dr. Bhargava also discussed the vaccination status of those who required oxygen or ventilation support. 36 percent of fully vaccinated individuals needed oxygen support as compared to 45 percent of unvaccinated or partially vaccinated. Similarly, only 5 percent of vaccinated patients needed ventilators, whereas 11 percent of the unvaccinated patients needed ventilatory support. All the three differences were found to be statistically significant.

In the briefing, Dr. Bhargava did not provide data on the vaccination status of those individuals who died, required oxygen or mechanical ventilation during the Delta surge.

Also Read:Explained: Impact Of Omicron On Children In India