On Wednesday, Italy recorded the highest deaths among the countries hit by the COVID-19 virus with 475 deaths. As of Thursday, the country’s casualty figure is expected to surpass the figure of China where the virus first originated. According to the new report released, it seems that 99 percent of the patients who died suffered from other health problems.
The research conducted by the National Institutes of Health evaluated 355 deaths and arrived at the conclusion that only three out of them had no prior health conditions. The rest suffered from either high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease. According to the report, 75 percent of them had high blood pressure, 35 percent had diabetes, 24 percent had atrial fibrillation and 33 percent suffered from heart disease. The average age of those who died is 79.5 and the average of infected people is 63.
Condition Worsens in Italy Hospitals
As of Wednesday, only 17 people under the age of 50 had died in the country because of the novel coronavirus. According to the World Health Organization, Italy has seen around 8 percent of deaths of the corona infected patients while the rest of the world witnessed only 4 percent.
Even as older patients are more prone to the virus and are dying, the majority of the Italian hospitals are occupied by relatively young patients. An anesthetist at a hospital in Bergamo said that people above the age of 80 having respiratory diseases are likely to be not admitted.
An age-based statistic of the hospitals in Italy reveals that out of all the admitted patients, 12 percent are between the age of 19 and 50, 52 percent are between the age of 51 and 70 while the rest are above the age of 70.
As of 19th March, the total confirmed cases in Italy are around 35,713 out of which 2,978 have lost their lives and 4,025 have recovered. Of the remaining 28,710 active cases, 92 percent of them i.e. 26,453 are in mild condition and the remaining 2,257 are critical. On March 18th alone Italy reported 4,207 new cases.
