In Ukraine, among the cases of coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, the largest proportion is people over the age of 50, Deputy Minister of Health, Chief State Sanitary Doctor Viktor Liashko told Interfax-Ukraine on Monday.

"The elderly are still in the red zone of risk. Most of the sick people are in the age groups of 50-59 years, as well as 60 years and older," he said.

Liashko said that in Ukraine the structure of the incidence by age has practically not changed since 2020.

"Recently, there was a lot of information that young people began to get sick more frequently, in contrast to 2020, when people aged 60 and over were mostly sick. We analyzed the monthly age proportion of patients from August 2020 to March 2021. The same analysis was made by the age proportion of deaths diagnosed with coronavirus disease. And we saw that in Ukraine the structure of the incidence by age has hardly changed," he said.

The deputy minister said that over the past three months, there has been an increase in the incidence in the age group of 60 and over, this group is also the most critical course of the disease.

"Some 75-80% of all deaths are registered in this age group. That is why this group is a priority for vaccination, and their vaccination will begin immediately after the doctors," he said.

According to Liashko, The Lancet journal published data that the likelihood of re-infection with COVID-19 is higher in the age group of 65 and older, in 47.1% of cases the suffered disease protected from re-infection. At the same time, for people under 65, this figure was 80.5%.

"Recently, the results of the third phase of the clinical trial of the AZD1222 [AstraZeneca] vaccine, which was completed in the U.S., were also released. In the age group of 65 and older, the vaccine is 80% effective. Overall, the vaccine has been shown to be 79% effective against symptomatic COVID-19 and 100% against difficult course and hospitalization," he said.