Global data on the lethality of the new virus show that the elderly are much more likely to succumb to Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the virus, than the young.

In Italy, which has the oldest population in the world after Japan, 58% of Covid-19 patients who died so far were over 80 years old, and a further 31% were in their 70s, according to the National Institute of Health, Italy’s disease-control agency.

“If we break it down by age group, our death rates are similar, or even lower, than those reported in China,” Giovanni Rezza, the institute’s chief epidemiologist, told reporters on Monday. “For better or for worse, we have a very old population.”