AFP | Updated: Mar 21, 2020, 22: 22 IST
A staffer at a hospital in Italy taking a moment of rest. (Credits: AP)
ROME: Why Italy? Loads of people have been wondering why the beautiful Mediterranean country has become the new epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic.
Experts list a range of reasons — from Italy’s relatively high age to its strained healthcare system to some old fashioned bad luck — that add up to a disaster not seen in generations.
None of the answers alone explain why the nation of 60 million accounts for over a third of the nearly 11,500 deaths officially reported across the 7.7-billion strong world.
But other countries will want to examine each of these factors and address them through various preventive measures in their bids to avoid becoming the next Italy.
One of the first factors almost everyone who looks at the figures points to is Italians’ average age.
It is high.
The median age of the overall population was 45.4 last year — greater than anywhere else in Europe.
It is also seven years higher than the median age in China and slightly above that of South Korea.
Figures released Friday showed the age of Italians dying of COVID-19