People with health problems risk contracting coronavirus: Study

PARIS: A recent study has claimed that medically unwell people are at a heightened risk of contracting the COVID-19 infection, which has killed more than 420,000 people globally.

A team of experts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine analysed global data sets of illnesses including diabetes, lung disease, and HIV used these to estimate how many people are at heightened risk of serious COVID-19 infection.

They found that one in five people have at least one underlying health problem putting them in greater danger. Illnesses include diabetes, lung disease, and HIV.

The researchers said that around 4 percent of the global population would likely get sick enough to require hospital treatment.”As countries move out of lockdown, governments are looking for ways to protect the most vulnerable from a virus that is still circulating,” said Andrew Clark, who contributed to the study.

Andrew Clark further stated, “This might involve advising people with underlying conditions to adopt social distancing measures appropriate to their level of risk.”

The researcher also found out that older people are in greater danger of getting seriously unwell from the virus. Less than 5 percent of people aged under 20 have an underlying risk factor, compared with two-thirds of over 70s.

Countries with younger populations have fewer people with at least one underlying condition, but risks vary globally, according to the analysis.

Small island states such as Fiji and Mauritius have among the highest rates of diabetes, a known COVID-19 risk factor on Earth, for example.

And countries with the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS, such as Eswatini and Lesotho, also need to be careful. In Europe, more than 30 percent of people have one or more health conditions.