I live in the UK and there are a lot of people who have Coronavirus now. Every hospital has an ill person in. My boyfriends mum is a high band nurse in a hospital and she said it will get worse and apparently 80% of the population will catch it. I have asthma. I am wondering if I am likely to die from it if I have asthma? I don’t want to die, I’m only 21. Apparently people with asthma are at higher risk, does that mean I’m more likely to die?

I think the thing to focus on is that compared to the population of the world there are not that many deaths. Most are elderly and also have an underlying issue or are getting to hospital late. Your young and yes you have asthma but if you take steps recommended and take care of yourself, try doing some indoor exercise, get fresh air where possible and keep a routine best you can with food/ drink and sleep it's really not worth stressing over. I know that's easier said than done and I'm stressed too but we're doing ourselves no favours getting wound up. Think of this like a retreat from the busy crazy world. This is your time for self care and focussing on what you like doing that you can do inside. You could even take up a new hobby or practice learning a new language.

I'm 24 by the way so not that far off from you and I worry myself because I don't get much exercise so I'm really going to be channelling all the energy I could spend worrying into that and try out those weights I got for Christmas. :)

UK here too. I'm going to talk numbers here because I think it's important to be informed and behave accordingly, especially given the advice yesterday about at-risk groups needing to be particularly vigilant. I'm 26, my 21 year old sister has asthma too, so we have thought about this and we are just going to take good precautions around her- your family should do the same. The stats are complex. 8% of asthma sufferers who have been diagnosed have died. But don't panic, that 8% is spread across all age groups. We know that average risk of death is multiplied by roughly 5.5 for asthma compared with no underlying health conditions. So we just take the 0.2% for your age group and multiply it by 5.5, giving us a 1.1% mortality risk. And that's the highest it's going to be for you, because the combination of being older AND having asthma is synergistic (meaning that in this case 2 + 2 really does = 5 metaphorically speaking), so even that 5.5 multiplier is skewed by age a bit. Look, you're a bit at risk, below 1% but that's not really much higher than other people our age. As the other commenter said, look after your general health and try to keep your stress levels low so your immune system is in good shape. Don't worry about the shortages because you would be top priority for care if you had to be hospitalised because your 99% survival rate is a lot higher than most other people who will be hospitalised. And all these stats are STILL definitely not accounting for all the undiagnosed asymptomatic cases they never spot, so they're only your probability once diagnosed. There is no guarantee that you'd even get symptoms if you caught it, regardless of asthma, and it could be a big chunk of us that will be asymptomatic. Follow the advice from the press conference yesterday and any updates- you don't need to self isolate unless you get a cough or a fever or someone in your household does, but take the new health guidelines as rules rather than suggestions, so minimize your social contact and travel, don't go to pubs, theatres or gatherings, and wash or sanitize your hands very regularly (your family too). All these social distancing measures are being done so we can keep you as safe as possible until good treatments can be found to help improve mortality to make your risk even lower (should only take a few months) and a vaccine is developed, so everyone is behind you. We're taking it seriously- not in a scary way, in a loving way. Do take the time over these months to look after yourself, again as Jasm1h said. Worrying or watching the statistics is not going to prevent anything, just make a habit of doing the health precautions and do a lot of self care and self enrichment. This virus is a real bitch and it's normal to be worried and to want information, but it's not worth letting it take over your life. I'm in Kent and would offer to meet up for company if you're somewhere in the south but I need to be particularly sensible about travel too because of my sister and mother, even if I came to you and you stayed put. But I'd be happy to Skype or DM if you want someone with OCD in the same situation to talk to.