Recent studies by a Harvard University alumnus Nuseir Yassin, has revealed that the possibility of a coronavirus patient outside China dying from the virus was 1 in 45 million.
Yassin said the death rate for 80 years and above is 14.8 percent, 70 to 79 years old is 8.0 percent, 60 to 69 years old is 3.6 percent, 50 to 59 years old is 1.3 percent, 40 to 49 years old is 0.4 percent, 30 to 10 years old is 0.2 percent and 0 to 9 years old experience no fatalities.
“This knowledge is essential so that fewer people should worry. If you are under 50 years old and not living in China, you have 1in a 45 million chance than actually dying from the virus,” Yassin said.
He said 80,000 people are sick right now and that is quite a lot, but out of this, 77,000 people are in China. “So if you are not from China that should remove 96 percent of your worry.
“Let us assume, somehow you got the virus, in the extremely unlikely event of you getting the virus, 81 percent of the cases are mild, 14 percent of the cases are moderate, only 5 percent of the cases are critical, which means that you are very, very likely to recover from it and if you somehow get to a critical stage, if you compare CONVID-19 to SARS, it had a 10 percent fatality rate, while CONVID-19 has only a 2 percent fatality rate, that is a five times smaller number than SARS,” he said.
Going back to CONVID-19, Yassin says the rules haven’t changed, adding that washing of hands often is a sure way to prevent the spread of the virus. Additionally, he said the Centre for Disease Control and Prevention CDC, recently said that the most likely way this disease is spread is through sneezing, hence the reason why overcrowded areas should be avoided for now.
A recent study by the Chinese Centre for Disease and Prevention (CCDC), also revealed that the elderly and those living with Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) are more likely to die from the coronavirus virus (covid-19), than younger age group.
The study published in the Chinese Journal of Epidemiology looked at more than 44,000 confirmed cases of covid-19 in China as of 11th February 2020.
While the results largely confirm previous descriptions of the virus and patterns of infection, the study includes a detailed breakdown of the over 44,000 confirmed cases across all of China.
It revealed that 80.9 percent of infections are classified as mild, 13.8 percent as severe and only 4.7 percent are critical. The fatality rate remains low but rises among those over 80 years old.
The study also identified existing illness that put patients at risk. Cardiovascular disease is number one, followed by diabetes, chronic respiratory disease and hypertension.
While covid-19 may be a new virus, the United Nations Children’s Funds (UNICEF) says it is possible for people of any age to be infected with the virus, but so far there have been relatively few cases of the novel coronavirus reported among children.
The organisation says the virus is fatal in rare cases, so far mainly among older people with pre-existing medical conditions.
One of the worst day so far was February 10th when 108 people, mainly from China, died from the virus, says Yassin, adding that though that is a very high number, but on the same day, cancer killed 26,283 people; heart disease killed 24,641 people; diabetes killed 4,300 people and suicide on that day took, 27.7 times more people than CONVID-19.
