Not only is the Delta variant that is now running rampant through Bangladesh far deadlier than earlier iterations of the virus, it is also far deadlier to young people.
As Bangladesh grapples with containing the transmission of Covid-19 which took a serious turn since the detection of its Delta variant, an even more worrisome aspect of the pandemic has revealed itself: Compared to one year ago the percentage of Covid dead that were 30 or below has risen by 80%.
A Dhaka Tribune analysis of the monthly coronavirus fatalities since August last year shows that 1,170 people succumbed to Covid-19 that month.
Of that number, however, only 24 people aged 30 and below died of Covid in August 2020, accounting for just 2% of the total body count.
Also Read - BSMMU: 98% of Bangladesh's Covid patients infected with Delta variant
But when we compare the deaths last month, not only do we see a dramatic rise in total deaths, we also see a massive rise in the percentage of young people dying.
Last month there were 6,132 Covid deaths, a shocking four-fold increase from the 1,170 deaths last August.
But even more worrisome was the fact that deaths in the 30 and under age group rose from 24 to 223, a more than eight-fold increase, compared to a year ago.
In short, the percentage of Covid dead aged 30 and below rose from 2% to 3.6% of the total -- a whopping 80% increase.
Between the two months, there has been an almost 30% increase in the percentage of overall Covid dead in the 0-10 age group, 20% in the 11-20 age group, and over 90% increase in the 21-30 age group.
Also Read - Covid-19: Deaths in Bangladesh top 22,000 with 248 new deaths
It is the Delta variant that is fuelling the current crisis and changing the demographic picture of Covid dead in Bangladesh.
Some 98% of Bangladesh's Covid-19 patients last month were infected by the highly contagious variant, according to a new study.
The total death toll in Bangladesh stands at 22,150 as another 248 fatalities were registered in the past 24 hours till Friday morning.
With 12,606 people testing positive over the period, the number of total infections rose to 1,335,260.
