While most of SARS-CoV-2 infected subjects are pauci-symptomatic [3] and about 15% asymptomatic [4], in some individuals the disease can develop to a more serious respiratory illness requiring hospitalization and intensive care treatment when it progresses to a critical illness involving pneumonia with hypoxemia, acute respiratory distress syndrome and severe systemic inflammation [5]. The infection-fatality rate (IFR) is determined currently to be 0.68% (0.53–0.82%) [6], with a decrease in the number to be expected due to the current increased divergence between the infection and death rates globally. The IFR is a function of age, with an IFR of <0.01% for subjects under 25 years of age and a log-linear increase of the IFR for subjects older than 30 years [7].