The coronavirus COVID-19 has exploed in Italy. On Friday, there were 41,035 confirmed cases in the nayion of about 60 million, with more than 3,400 deaths.

The mainstream media in the United States has breathlessly reported that the death toll there means the virus is far more dangerous than has been reported.

But a new study made a stunning finding: 99% of coronavirus deaths in Italy were of patients with existing medical problems, which all doctors say makes people more prone to adverse effects from the virus.

“Research into 355 deaths found that only three of the victims, 0.8 per cent, had been clear of illnesses before they were infected,” The Daily Mail reported. “Nearly half of them – 48.5 per cent – already had three or even more health conditions before they were diagnosed with Covid-19. Another 25.6 per cent had two other ‘pathologies’, while 25.1 per cent had one.”

TRENDING: Black Lives Matter Activist Wearing 'Justice for Breonna Taylor' Shirt Walked into a Louisville Bar and Murdered Three People

The research by Italy’s National Institute of Health is consistent with previous findings that people with existing illnesses are more likely to die from coronavirus. According to the study, the most common of these problems in Italy include high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes. Some 76.1 per cent of the patients who died of Covid-19 had previously had problems with high arterial blood pressure, the study found. More than a third – 35.5 per cent – had diabetes, while 33.0 per cent had suffered from ischemic heart disease.

The study also found that the average age of those who died from the virus in Italy was 79.5, and slightly higher for women.

That is also consistent with previous findings from around the world that older people are more vulnerable to the disease. But it’s unclear why it ravaged Italy, which has the second-oldest population in the world, while leaving Japan, which is No. 1, relatively unscathed.

It doesn’t appear that testing is a major factor, despite what the mainstream media in the U.S. say. Japan has not conducted extensive testing for COVID-19 on its citizens. South Korea has done nearly 5,600 tests per million residents — third most in the world, according to ourworldindata.com — while Japan has done just 130 per million, putting the country in 21st place. Italy, meanwhile, is sixth at roughly 2,500 per million, while Hong Kong comes in 14th at about 700 per million.