Why virus rates skyrocketed in Italy
'The European country has the second largest ageing population in the world behind Japan, according to the
New York Times.
Roughly 23 per cent of the Italian population is over the age of 65 and the median age is 47.3 years.
By comparison the median age in Australia 37.9 years, with only 15 per cent of the population over the age of 65.
Old age, as well as pre-existing conditions such as high blood pressure and respiratory issues, increases the chances of a coronavirus case being fatal.'
'In Lombardy — a northern province of Italy where cases have spiralled — the region’s present Attilio Fontana said “all the deaths we’ve had are either very old people or very sick people”.
According to Aubree Gordon, an associate professor of epidemiology at the University of Michigan, the death rate from a disease will depend on the demographics of a population.
Professor Gordon said that as Italy has an older popular, “you would expect their mortality rate to be higher on average, all else being held equal”, she told
Live Science
Italy’s Civil Protection Agency’s boss Angelo Borrelli, who is co-ordinating the country’s response to the virus, has said the majority of fatal instances of coronavirus were in the elderly.'
