Heart attack among youth: Mansukh Mandaviya cautions severe Covid patients, warns against hard labour and strenuous exercise

Amid a surge in heart attacks among the youth in recent months, Union Health and Family Welfare Minister Mansukh Mandaviya advised those who had suffered from severe Covid-19 infections not to exert themselves too much while doing exercise and stay away from hard labour for some time.

Talking to the media on the sidelines of an event in his native district of Bhavnagar in Gujarat on Sunday, Mandaviya said that the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) had done a detailed study on the subject and advised that those who had recovered from severe Covid infections should not exert themselves. “The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has done a detailed study recently. That detailed study has recommended that those who had severe Covid should desist from extra labour; that they should stay away from continuous labour, laborious running, exercise, etc., for a specified short period, meaning a year or two, so that heart attacks can be prevented,” Mandaviya said.

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The minister was in Bhavnagar to attend the closing ceremony of Sansad Khelmahotsava, 2023, a sports carnival organised for the youth of Bhavnagar Lok Sabah constituency, which covers the Bhavnagar and Botad districts of Gujarat.

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Incidentally, more and more cases of people in their 20s and 30s dying due to heart attacks have been reported since late 2022 and many people are linking these deaths to Covid or its treatment.

Due to the rising number of cases, many garba (traditional Gujarati dance) organisers in Gujarat kept medical teams on standby at venues during Navratri, the nine-day-long annual Hindu festival. However, heart attack deaths during garba nights were reported this year, too.