Coronavirus death rate depends on one thing – how old the patient is

The death rate for people with coronavirus massively varies depending on their age, figures published by the British Medical Journal reveal.

The rate is estimated at approximately 2% overall, but ranges from 0.2% in people under 50 to 14.8% in those over 80.

And it is higher among those with chronic or life- threatening conditions.

A study of the age of all the people who have caught coronavirus found that the median age – the half way point in the age range of all those studied, is 59, demonstrating that older people are also more likely to catch the virus. The median age of the UK population is 40.

The BMJ analysis also found the median incubation period – the time between being exposed to the germ and having symptoms of the illness – is estimated at five to six days.

One of the country’s top medical experts said yesterday the UK is “teetering on the edge” of sustained transmission of the virus. Jennie Harries, England’s deputy chief medical officer, said the country remained in the “containment” phase but that a decision about the next phase – delaying the spread of the virus – would depend on how fast the number of cases rose.