Coronavirus Map: China has published the results of major scientific work on coronavirus since the outbreak. Who are the main victims of COVID-19, and why should the new numbers be treated with caution?

On February 18, the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention published the results of a study on coronavirus infection . This is by far the most comprehensive work on COVID-19. Among other findings, it gives an idea of ​​how truly dangerous the new coronavirus is.

The study was based on a study of 72314 patients. In 44672 cases (61%) it was a question of confirmed cases of infection, in 16186 cases (22.4%) – of a possible infection, in 10567 cases (14.6%) the disease was clinically diagnosed (only in Hubei province), and In 889 cases (1.2%), it was asymptomatic.

More than 80% of infections were classified as lungs. Severe form of the disease was in 13.8% of patients, 4.7% of cases were called critical – half of them ended in death.

Coronavirus Map The danger of COVID-19 depends on the age of the patient.

Scientists have found that older people over 80 are at greatest risk. The mortality rate in this age group is 14.8%. The risk of becoming a victim of coronavirus is also dramatically increased by chronic diseases: cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, respiratory diseases and high blood pressure. It also turned out that the higher the age of those infected, the higher the risk of death: between the ages of 70 and 79, it is 8%, and between 60 and 69, 3.6%.

The younger the person, the greater the likelihood that, having become infected with coronavirus, he will recover: in the group of 10 to 50 years, the mortality rate increases with age from 0.2 to 0.4%. Among patients aged 50 to 59 years, it is 1.3%. It is also interesting that among children infected with coronavirus there are practically no children under the age of 10 years. Mortality among men (2.8%) is significantly higher than among women (1.7%).

In the Chinese province of Hubei with the highest number of coronavirus infections, the mortality rate is 2.9%, in the remaining regions of China – about 0.4%, as a result of which the overall mortality rate in the country fluctuates around 2.3%.

According to Chinese authorities, more than 12 thousand people have now been cured of coronavirus infection.

Doctors are at particular risk

The study also noted a high risk of infection, which doctors are exposed to, especially in Hubei. In total, signs of the virus were detected in 3,019 medical workers, in 1716 of them they were confirmed. Five people died during the study period. On February 18, Liu Zhiming, the head physician of the Wuhan hospital, died of coronavirus infection. He was 51 years old.

Healthcare workers are more likely than others to be exposed to coronavirus

In early January, a 34-year-old doctor, Li Wenliang, was the first to warn of the massive spread of the new coronavirus from a pulmonary disease caused by COVID-19.

Is the peak coronavirus epidemic already over?

According to a study by Chinese doctors, a decrease in the number of new infections with coronavirus may mean that the peak of the first wave of disease may already have passed. The authors of the study note that further isolation of a number of cities and restriction of freedom of movement around the country would contribute to further containment of COVID-19. Moreover, the document says that China should be ready for a new increase in the number of diseases that could be triggered by the return of people across the country from forced vacations and going to work.

Professor Clemens Wendtner, chief physician of the infectious diseases and tropical medicine department at the Schwabing clinic in Munich, in turn, is not convinced that we can already talk about a turning point in the coronavirus epidemic. “According to reports from China, the availability of a diagnostic study using the Real-Time RT-PCR method has temporarily decreased there, so I would question the numbers obtained using this method, at least in Hubei. Surely, they checked this method there not all sick, “- said the German doctor.

Wendtner calls for great caution in referring to the figures indicated in the Chinese study. He believes that the number of unaccounted for patients with COVID-19 virus in the Hubei region is likely to be very large. “It is unlikely that a person will go to the doctor or go to the hospital if he is in quarantine, he is scared, and he can only leave the house with great difficulty,” says the source.