One in 20 people will need hospital care if they get Covid-19, study estimates | South China Morning Post
Researchers find those with underlying conditions are likely to make up ‘a large proportion of the additional health care burden’
They say more efforts are needed to shield people at increased risk, including with more intensive physical distancing measures
About one in 20 people worldwide – or 349 million – who are at high risk of severe illness from Covid-19 will need hospital treatment such as oxygen therapy if they contract the disease, according to a new study.
Researchers from Britain, the US and China, led by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, made the estimate based on health data for 188 countries and UN population projections for 2020.
They concluded that “a large proportion of the additional health care burden” from Covid-19 was likely to come from people with underlying conditions. And without a vaccine, more efforts were needed to shield those at-risk people from contracting the disease, they said.
“Identifying at-risk populations is important not only for making projections of the probable health burden in countries, but also for the design of effective strategies that aim to reduce the risk of transmission to people in target groups,” the researchers wrote in a peer-reviewed paper published in
The Lancet on June 15.
Experts reluctant to predict end of Covid-19 pandemic as global case numbers keep setting records. Experts reluctant to predict end of Covid-19 pandemic as global case numbers keep setting records.
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One in 20 = 5%. Not bad odds. But I understand it takes months to recover & then many people are short of breath due to extensive lung damage. And there is the risk of kidney failure as well as strokes & heart attacks from blood clotting.
The stages of COVID-19 are:
1. Respiratory (lungs, trachea, etc)
2. Infammatory ('cytokine war') - major damage caused by your own immune system fighting the virus
3. Vascular (heart, blood vessels, major organs)