New study underlines danger of coronavirus to those in middle age

Middle-aged people, and not just the elderly, have a dramatically higher risk of dying or developing serious illness from COVID-19, new research from Britain shows.

The findings come in a new comprehensive analysis of virus cases in mainland China.

Researchers from Britain analyzed more than 3,600 confirmed COVID-19 cases as well as data from hundreds of passengers repatriated from the outbreak city of Wuhan.

They find that age is a key determining factor in serious infections, with nearly one in five over-80s requiring hospitalization, compared to around 1 percent among people under 30.

Taking into account estimates of the number of cases that may not have been clinically confirmed — that is, mild or asymptomatic infections — the data shows the hospitalization rate of patients in their fifties was 8.2 percent.

The study, published in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal, estimates that the mortality rate from confirmed COVID-19 cases in mainland China was 1.38 percent.

If unconfirmed cases are taken into account, the death rate dropped to 0.66 percent.

The authors of the research say that while this was significantly lower than previous estimates, COVID-19 is still several times deadlier than previous pandemic viruses, such as H1N1.

“Our estimates can be applied to any country to inform decisions around the best containment policies for COVID-19,” says Azra Ghani, a study co-author from Imperial College London.

— AFP