Scientists find why men are more vulnerable to Covid-19

NEWDELHI:Being male is a significant risk factor for severe illness and death from the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) regardless of age, according to a new study that identified higher concentrations of a key enzyme in men’s blood as the reason for the increased risk of death they face compared to women.

Men have higher levels of the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), a protein in the blood that Sars-CoV2, the virus that causes Covid-19, uses to enter human cells, according to the study published in the European Heart Journal on Monday.

Sars-CoV2 causes infection by using its crown-like spike protein, which gives the virus its name (corona is Latin for crown) to bind to ACE2 on the surface of human cells, from where it invades the air sacs in the lungs, leading to respiratory distress.

ACE2 is also found in the heart, kidneys and tissues lining blood vessels, and there are particularly high levels in the testes, which may partially explain higher ACE2 concentrations in men, according to the study.

HYDERABAD: The police arrested 25 people, imposed prohibitory orders and reinforced security in communally sensitive Bhainsa town of Telangana’s Nirmal district on Monday after clashes erupted between people belonging to two communities late on Sunday night.

According to the police, trouble began with people from one community protesting against the other for not following social distancing norms during the ongoing coronavirus disease lockdown.

Around 11 pm, a person belonging to the second community allegedly created a scene in the Sivajinagar area after consuming alcohol, sparking clashes between the two groups, which attacked each other with stones and sticks.

The police who had been patrolling the area to enforce the lockdown dispersed the two groups. Nirmal district superintendent of police C Shashidhar Raju and Karimnagar range deputy inspector general P Pramod Kumar then reached Bhainsa .

Around 200 policemen and 300 Rapid Action Force personnel were deployed to prevent violence in the town, where the authorities enforced orders preventing the public assembly of four or more people. Commercial establishments were closed in Bhainsa on Monday. “One person was injured in the clashes and a few vehicles got damaged, including the window panes of a fourwheeler,” Raju said. He said the situation was under control. “25 persons have been taken into custody...The lockdown will be implemented more strictly in Bhainsa,” he said.