The average age of deceased patients who tested positive for COVID-2019 is 81 years, they are mostly men and in more than two thirds of cases have three or more pre-existing diseases. This is confirmed by an analysis of the data of 105 Italian patients who died on March 4, conducted by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità, which shows that there is a 20-year difference between the average age of the deceased and that of the virus positive patients. The report concerns the deceased patients and is based on data obtained through the completion of a questionnaire developed ad hoc for the detection of death cases. The average age of the patients examined is 81 years, about 20 years older than that of the patients who have contracted the infection, and women are 28 (26.7%). The majority of deaths 42.2% occurred in the 80 to 89 age group, while 32.4% were between 70 and 79, 8.4% between 60 and 69, 2.8% between 50 and 59 and 14.1% over 90. Women who died after COVID-2019 infection are older than men (median age women 83.4 - median age men 79.9). The average number of diseases observed in this population is 3.4 (median 3, Standard Deviation 2.1). Overall, 15.5% of the sample had 0 or 1 pathologies, 18.3% had 2 pathologies and 67.2% had 3 or more pathologies. The most represented comorbidity is hypertension (present in 74.6% of the sample), followed by ischemic heart disease (70.4%) and diabetes mellitus (33.8%). The median time from onset of symptoms to hospitalization was 5 days and the median time between hospitalization and death was 4 days. "Although preliminary, these data confirm the observations made so far in the rest of the world on the main characteristics of patients - comments Iss President Silvio Brusaferro -, in particular on the fact that the elderly and people with pre-existing diseases are more at risk. These are very fragile people, who often live in close contact and we must protect them as much as possible".