People in 20s, 30s, 40s increasingly driving pandemic - WHO

The spread of the coronavirus is being increasingly driven by people aged in their 20s, 30s and 40s and many are not aware that they have been infected, the World Health Organisation’s regional director for the Western Pacific said on Tuesday.

WHO officials said this month the proportion of younger people among those infected had risen globally, putting at risk vulnerable sectors of the population worldwide, including the elderly and sick people in densely populated areas with weak health services. 

This increases the risk of spillovers to the more vulnerable: the elderly, the sick people in long-term care, people who live in densely populated areas and undeserved areas, Takeshi Kasai told a virtual briefing.

At the same time, more than 21.81 million people have been reported to be infected by the novel coronavirus globally and 770,518​ have died, according to a Reuters tally.

Infections have been reported in more than 210 countries and territories since the first cases were identified in China in December 2019.