Around 40% of Switzerland's COVID-19 intensive care patients were under 60 years old, according to a new report

• Around 40% of coronavirus patients in intensive care in Switzerland were under 60 years old, according to the Swiss Society of Intensive Care Medicine in results published on Saturday by Swiss media network SRF.
• The report showed that of the country's ICU patients under 60, more than a third did not have "relevant pre-existing conditions."
• COVID-19 patients under 60 in intensive care in Switzerland were more likely to survive than older age groups also in intensive care, the report concluded.
• Switzerland has reported a total of 30,845 COVID-19 cases, according to Johns Hopkins University.

A new report published by the Swiss Society of Intensive Care Medicine (SSICM) shows that among Switzerland's COVID-19 patients in intensive care, around 40% were under 60 years old.

The SSICM's latest report, which was published by Swiss media network SRF on Saturday, shows that more than a third of the country's intensive care patients under 60 did not have "relevant pre-existing conditions" including diabetes or high blood pressure.

Antje Heise, deputy president of the SSCIM, told SRF: "For the large majority of patients on intensive care units, and these include younger patients, it's a long process. Afterwards they have to spend a certain time on a normal ward. After that, it's not so easy for them to simply go back to working again."

However, the SSCIM reported, the majority of deaths occurred in COVID-19 intensive care patients over the age of 60, while the younger patients generally survived.

While there is still much to discover about how the novel coronavirus affects different populations, including kids and pregnant women, the latest report from Switzerland appears to mirror reports from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about the age distribution of COVID-19 patients.

In the US, a nearly 30% of confirmed coronavirus cases have been among people between 20–44, according to the CDC.

Patients in that age group made up 20% of hospitalizations and 12% of ICU admissions among US coronavirus cases. Additionally, adults aged 45–64 years accounted for 36% of intensive care unit admissions in the US, the CDC reported.

Switzerland has joined other European nations in relaxing lockdown restrictions over the past month

Many European countries have been relaxing lockdown guidelines after being in quarantine and living under curfew for weeks and months. Switzerland, for example, now allows people to dine at restaurants and bars and officially announced at the end of April that kids 10 and under can hug their grandparents.

Switzerland has reported a total of 30,845 COVID-19 cases and 1,919 deaths at the time of writing, according to Johns Hopkins University's Coronavirus Resource Center.

• Read more:
• 18 critical things we've learned about the coronavirus since the earliest reported cases in China
• Nearly 30% of US coronavirus cases have been among people 20-44 years old, the CDC says — showing that young people are getting sick, too
• Photos show people in Italy leaving their homes as the country eases its lockdown restrictions after almost 2 months