A Belgian doctor working to battle the coronavirus says he’s treated several seriously ill young patients — and their lung scans were “nothing short of terrifying,” according to reports.

Dr Ignace Demeyer, who works at a hospital in the city of Aalst, said an increasing number of people between the ages of 30 and 50 have presented with severe symptoms, despite having “blank medical records” that show no underlying conditions that would make them high-risk, the Brussels Times reported.

“They just walk in, but they are terribly affected by the virus,” Dr Demeyer told the Belgian broadcaster VRT.

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He said CT scans indicated they were suffering from severe lung damage.

“The images we took yesterday are nothing short of terrifying,” he told the station.

“They are people who do not smoke, who have no other conditions such as diabetes or heart failure.”

Belgium has reported at least 1085 COVID-19 cases and at least five deaths since the virus emerged in China in December.

Worldwide, there have been more than 190,000 people infected as of Tuesday afternoon, according to a tally from Johns Hopkins University.