Coronavirus: Nearly 800 people under the age of 50 have died in the US

Nearly 200 people in the US in their thirties have died from coronavirus, among the nearly 800 people under age 50 who have died following the outbreak.

The majority of severe cases in the US and around the world have involved older people and people with compromised immune systems and other underlying conditions that put them at greater risk of hospitalisation and death.

But health officials warn that young people are still at risk of serious illness and death.

At least 45 Americans in their twenties have died from the Covid-19 disease caused by the virus, not including another nine deaths involving people under 20 years old, according to data collected by The Washington Post.

The mortality count is likely to grow as states and health systems begin reporting data from testing backlogs and demographic breakdowns of coronavirus patients, which are now beginning to emerge.

Nearly 15,000 deaths in the US can be attributed to the virus, according to Johns Hopkins University. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has only collected information verifying 3,300 deaths following reports to the National Vital Statistics System, though the causes of thousands of other deaths are pending.

The CDC has previously reported that Americans between the ages of 20 and 54 made up nearly 40 per cent of hospitalizations within the first few weeks of the pandemic's grip in the US.

Last month, among a sampling of 121 patients admitted to hospital intensive care units, nearly half were under the age of 65.

The number of young adults who have died from the disease varies widely from each state — in Louisiana, for example, 8 per cent of the state's reported 650 deaths involve people under 50, but that statistic is fewer than 1 per cent in Massachusetts.

In New York, which has emerged as a global epicentre for the virus, with more confirmed cases in the state than in any other country, the disease has claimed the lives of six people under 20 years old, 33 people in their twenties, 118 people in their thirties, and 265 people in their forties, The Post reports.

More than a quarter of hundreds of recently hospitalised patients under age 50 had underlying conditions like hypertension, diabetes, asthma and other diseases, according to new CDC data.

But a small but alarming number of cases involved no other conditions.

In New York, for example, 64 per cent of people in their thirties who died had pre-existing conditions. But a third of those cases had no such factors, The Post reports.

Dr Deborah Birx, one of the top health officials advising the White House coronavirus task force, has also urged young Americans to heed social distancing guidelines to avoid becoming a quiet vector for the disease.

"We are asking every single American, no matter what your generation, from Z and up to X, and millennials in-between, to really ensure that you're following these guidelines," she told reporters last month. "You have the potential then to spread it to someone who does have a condition that none of us knew about and cause them to have a disastrous outcome."