Post-Covid medical complications on the rise in India

/ 2 min read

The survey indicates that only 28% of the respondents saw their close contacts develop such severe medical conditions without having an instance of Covid-19 infection.

The responses were received from 357 districts of India.
The responses were received from 357 districts of India. | Credits: Sanjay Rawat

Are medical complications on the rise post-Covid in India? A recent nationwide online survey on 32,000 people suggests that 51% of the respondents have seen at least one of their close associates - family, friends, neighbours, colleagues, etc. – experiencing heart or brain stroke, blood clots, neurological complications, cancer acceleration or other sudden medical conditions in the last two years.

ADVERTISEMENT
Sign up for Fortune India's ad-free experience
Enjoy uninterrupted access to premium content and insights.

The survey, carried out by community social media platform LocalCircles, also indicates that only 28% of the respondents saw their close contacts develop such severe medical conditions without having an instance of Covid-19 infection.

While 62% of the respondents said people in their close network experiencing such severe conditions were double-vaccinated, 11% said were administered only single dose of Covid vaccine. Only 8% of the respondents said the people known to them who developed medical complications during the last two years were unvaccinated.

Of the total respondents, 63% indicated that during the first year there were "No one, thankfully", but by the second year, the number of this group dropped to 40%. In the category of those who knew of 5-10 individuals with sudden medical complications, the percentage rose from 4% in late 2021 to 11% in late 2022. Similarly, those who indicated knowing 2-4 individuals with sudden severe ailments or complications, the percentage rose from 12% to 23% from late 2021 to late 2022 and in the category of people knowing 1 individual with such severe conditions, it rose from 15% to 17% in 2022, LocalCircle survey findings say.

Among the respondents, 22% said that their close contacts had COVID in the 1st wave during alpha or beta variants (March 2020-Feb 2021) while 11% indicated "their close contacts had COVID in the second wave during delta variant (March 2021- October 2021). Another 22% indicated their close contacts had COVID in the third wave or during the Omicron variant (November 2021- October 2022). Only 6% respondents said the patients they knew had COVID multiple times during all three waves.

The responses were received from 357 districts of India. While 67% respondents were men, 47% were from tier 1 cities, and 33% from tier 2 cities.

Recommended Stories