18-year-old is Britain’s youngest virus victim
A TEENAGER has become the youngest person in the UK to die from the virus.
The 18-year-old’s death was announced yesterday as the number who have lost their lives to the outbreak hit 281.
Britain may have seen the youngest victim of coronavirus, as figures from China – where more than 3,200 people have died – suggest just one was aged 19 or under.
The teenager was in a vulnerable, high-risk group and the death was reported by Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust.
The tragic news comes as deaths in the UK are now rising faster than those in Italy.
While coronavirus is much more dangerous for older people, there is particular concern for those with underlying health conditions such as chronic asthma, heart problems and sickle cell disease.
The risk to people with these conditions saw the Government yesterday announce new ‘shielding’ measures requiring them to stay at home for the next 12 weeks.
Dr Thomas House, reader in mathematical statistics at the University of Manchester, said: ‘The announcement of this death is very sad and shows that while the risks of coronavirus are reduced for younger people, a lower risk is not zero risk.
‘There have been deaths among younger people in China too and we know that everyone has to be taking this seriously.’
In the UK the death toll rose by 48 in a single day yesterday, with people dying aged between 18 to 102. Far more people are losing their lives in Italy, where 5,476 have now died. But its daily rise in deaths, of 651 people, stood at 13.5 per cent.
Troublingly, the death rate in the UK rose by more than 20 per cent.
Experts believe we are two weeks behind Italy, which is the hardesthit country in the world. And Prime Minister Boris Johnson has warned the NHS could be just as ‘completely overwhelmed’ as the Italian healthcare system when the worst of the epidemic hits.
But experts say our death rate
‘Lower risk is not zero risk’
overtaking Italy’s may be simply because we are earlier in the epidemic, when the more vulnerable people who are battling the virus tend to die, skewing the figures.
On Wednesday China reported its first day with no new cases of coronavirus caught between people in the community, although new infected people were still coming in from abroad.
Europe is now at the epicentre of the pandemic, with 12 people having died in Wales, ten in Scotland and two in Northern Ireland.
Across the UK the number of people testing positive for coronavirus has risen to more than 5,800.
In a statement yesterday, NHS England said that the patients who died were ‘aged between 18 and 102 years old and all were in vulnerable groups including with underlying conditions.’
Jeremy Hunt, former health secretary and now chairman of the Health Select Committee, said yesterday that next week will be ‘absolutely critical’ for slowing the spread of the virus.
He told Sophy Ridge on Sunday that ‘no healthcare system can really sustain the pressure that we’re seeing when this virus gets out of control’.
Until the 18-year-old who died was announced yesterday, the youngest UK victim was Craig Ruston. The 45-year-old died on Monday after developing a chest infection following a six-day battle with the virus.
He had previously spent two years fighting motor neurone disease and his wife Sally heartbreakingly said he was ‘not ready to go’.
Mr Ruston had planned to devote his life to raising awareness of the degenerative condition and his wife wrote online: ‘How dare this virus take this from Craig.’
The UK is still behind Spain where more than 1,000 people have died as of Friday.
In France, where people need a permit to leave their homes, more than 400 have died. But deputy chief medical officer Dr Jenny Harries cautioned against comparing the UK’s figures with those in other countries.
She said: ‘We will look back in due course and see the true number of people who have died from coronavirus. But a direct comparison with another country and against individual numbers is something we should be very cautious of.’