Diseases put 1 in 5 at severe risk
An estimated 1.7 billion people -- more than 20 percent of the world's population -- risk becoming severely infected with COVID-19 due to underlying health problems such as obesity and heart disease, analysis showed yesterday.
The novel coronavirus, which has killed more than 420,000 people globally during the first wave of the pandemic, adversely effects patients suffering from co-morbidities.
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.
While not all of those would go on to develop severe symptoms if infected, the researchers said around 4 percent of the global population -- around 350 million) would likely get sick enough to require hospital treatment.
Andrew Clark, who contributed to the study, said the findings could help governments make decisions on who receives a COVID-19 vaccine first when one becomes available.
Consistent with other studies about COVID risk, the authors found 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.
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