jaipur

Updated: Apr 29, 2020 04:36 IST

Rajasthan’s recovery rate of 33% for Covid-19 patients is higher than the national average of 23%, the state’s health department said Tuesday.

The recovery rate has been boosted partly by the fact that 66% of those infected are in a younger age group, he said.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), elderly people above 60 years of age face the highest risk from the coronavirus.

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The Rajasthan health department’s data shows that 66.67% of the population in the 20 to 60 years age group, which has better immunity, has been infected. The percentage of the population infected in the 60-80 years age group is only 10.5.

This has helped push up Rajasthan’s recovery rate. The state has recorded 2,335 positive cases so far and. Of these, 768 or 32.8% have recovered while 584 people have been discharged from hospitals after treatment, the health department said in the afternoon.

Only those who test negative twice in line with Covid-19 treatment protocol are discharged.

“We have made very good progress as far as recovery of positive patients is concerned. Of the 2328 cases, 766 or one-third have recovered and 584 have been discharged,” Rajasthan Health Minister Raghu Sharma had said hours before the health department released its data.

Dr DS Meena, medical superintendent of Jaipur’s SMS Hospital, said the reason for the recovery rate is that a higher proportion of the younger population in Rajasthan has been infected with the coronavirus. The younger population has been more affected more because they tend to move out more than the elderly.

“It is fortunate for us that the virus has infected a larger proportion of the younger age group who have better immunity and health and can fight off the disease more successfully than elderly patients,” he said.

Data from the health department shows that 41.75% of those infected are in the age group 20 to 40 years. The infection among the 40-50 years age group is 13.59% and 11.33% in the 50-60 years age group.

Coronavirus has so far affected 28 of 33 districts in the state. Pratapgarh which had recorded two cases of Covid-19 has shown a 100% recovery rate.

Bikaner has a recovery rate of 97.2% with 36 of 37 patients having recovered while one died. In Jhunjhunu, 40 of 42 patients have recovered (95.2%) while in Churu, 13 of 14 patients have recovered (92.8%).

In Bhilwara, which was once a Covid-19 hotspot, 30 of the 35 patients have recovered (85.7%). Jaisalmer has the same figures as Bhilwara.

Dungarpur where five of six patients have recovered has a recovery rate of 83.3% while Alwar with five of seven cases recovering has a rate of 71.4%. Three districts – Karauli, Pali and Udaipur share a recovery rate of 66.6%.

In Udaipur, four of six patients have recovered while in Karauli and Pali, two of three patients each have recovered.

In the state capital Jaipur, 273 of the 856 cases have recovered (31.8%). In an encouraging development, 192 people who tested negative twice for the Sars-Cov 2 virus were discharged from the SMS hospital on Monday, the health department said.