World Health Organization Warns Young People Are Dying From CCP Virus

World Health Organization (WHO) Technical Lead Maria Van Kerkhove talks during a daily press briefing on COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, at the WHO heardquaters in Geneva on March 11, 2020. (FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP via Getty Images)

Officials from the U.N. World Health Organization (WHO) have warned that more younger people are dying from CCP virus, including those without underlying conditions, as the pandemic continues to spread across the globe.

The Epoch Times refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic.

“We are seeing more and more younger individuals who are experiencing severe disease," Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove, head of WHO’s emerging diseases and zoonosis unit said at a news briefing from the organization’s Geneva headquarters on April 3.

Van Kerkhove stressed that while the majority of people who contract a severe form of the CCP virus and need intensive care are elderly or those with underlying health conditions, young people are also ending up in hospital or dead.

“What we are seeing in some countries is that there are individuals who are in their 30s, who are in their 40s, who are in their 50s who are in ICU and who have died,” she said.

“We’ve seen some data from Italy, we’ve seen some data from China, from a number of countries across Europe where people of younger age have died.

“Some of those individuals have had underlying conditions, but some have not,” Van Kerkhove added.

Mike Ryan, the executive director of WHO’s emergencies program, noted that it was incorrect to assume that the virus only severely impacts older people and those with underlying conditions, adding that in Korea, one in six deaths has been a person under the age of 60, while in Italy “over the last five or six weeks, at least 10 to 15 percent of people in intensive care have been under 50.”

“There was a tendency for the last several months, almost a dismissive attitude to say, ‘Well, this disease is severe in older people and it’s fine in younger people,’” Ryan said. “We collectively have been living in a world where we’ve tried to convince ourselves that this disease is mild in young people and more severe in older people and that’s where the problem is.”

The comments from WHO come shortly after health officials in New York City said that many of its confirmed cases of CCP virus are among young people.

Data released by the city’s health department showed people aged 18 to 44 account for over 40 percent of confirmed cases, while roughly one in five hospitalizations are occurring in those within the same age bracket. However, the elderly are still most at risk of catching the disease and account for the majority of the city’s cases, hospitalizations, and deaths.

On April 1, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced he was shutting down playgrounds across the state after young people had failed to adhere to social distancing protocols, despite him issuing several warnings.

“You still see too many situations with too much density by young people. They can get it. They’re putting their lives at risk. This can kill young people,” he told reporters.

“I warned people that if they didn’t stop the density and the games in the playgrounds—you can’t play basketball; you can’t come in contact with each other.”

As of April 4, the United States has 311,357 confirmed cases of the CCP virus, while 8,452 people have died from the resulting COVID-19 disease. The majority of both infections and deaths in the country have occured in New York.