1.7 Billion People Have Basic Condition to Increase Severe Covid-19 Risk: Lancet Study

An estimated 1.7 billion people have at least one of the underlying health conditions that could increase their risk of severe Covid-19 if infected, according to a global study, published in The Lancet Global Health journal.

“We hope our estimates will provide useful starting points for designing measures to protect those at increased risk of severe disease,” said study researcher Andrew Clark from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in the UK.

 “This might involve advising people with underlying conditions to adopt social distancing measures appropriate to their level of risk, or prioritising them for vaccination in the future,” Clark added.

 The researchers estimated that four per cent of the world’s population (349 million of 7.8 billion people) would require hospitalisation if infected, suggesting that the increased risk of severe Covid-19 could be quite modest for many with underlying conditions.The new study provides global, regional and national estimates for the number of people with underlying health conditions.