WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Younger people in France and Italy are falling seriously ill from coronavirus, a worrying development that suggests young adults are more susceptible to becoming sick than earlier thought, a White House official said on Wednesday.

“There are concerning reports coming out of France and Italy about young people getting very seriously ill,” White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Birx said at a White House briefing.

“It may have been that the millennial generation - our largest generation, our future generation that will carry us through for the next multiple decades - there may be a disproportional number of infections among that group,” she said. “And so, even if it’s a rare occurrence, it may be seen more frequently in that group and evident now.”