(COLOMBO, LANKAPUVATH) – More men are dying from Covid-19 than women around the world, data shows.
In Italy, China and US, for example, more men have been infected, and a higher proportion of men have died.
Sabra Klein, a scientist who studies sex differences in viral infections at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says “being male is as much a risk factor for the coronavirus as being old”.
But something puzzling is happening in India.
New research by a group of scientists in India and US shows that although men make up the majority of infections, women face a higher risk of dying from the coronavirus than men.
The study, based on Covid-19 deaths in India until 20 May, shows early estimates that 3.3% of all women contracting the infection in India were dying compared to 2.9% of all men. (India had a caseload of more than 110,000 with 3,433 deaths and a fatality rate of 3.1% when the study was conducted.)
In the 40-49 age group, 3.2% of the infected women have died, compared to 2.1% of men. Only females have died in the 5-19 age group.
