New data shows that men are more likely to die from coronavirus Covid-19 than women - but the reason why is so far unclear.
In Italy, men account for 53 per cent of cases but 68 per cent of deaths.
In Greece, the number of cases linked to the male population is 55 per cent, while they equate to 72 per cent of deaths.
It is a similar picture in Peru, with 58 per cent of cases being male, with their deaths amounting to 72 per cent. And in Denmark, men account for 46 per cent of cases, but 64 per cent of deaths.
There is a clear gender gap, according to sex-disaggregated data complied by Global Health 50:50 project.
They have based their statistics on official government sources in each country.
It states: "This disease burden may in part be driven by higher levels of risky behaviours, which are consistently found to be more common among men than women worldwide."
Dr Deborah Birx also noted the emerging pattern at a White House press briefing recently.
She said: "From Italy we’re seeing another concerning trend. That the mortality in males seems to be twice in every age group of females."
Dr Bharat Pankhania, senior clinical lecturer at University of Exeter Medical School, said one theory may be that "men undertake more hazardous activities starting from early life onwards".
And health expert Sarah Hawkes added: "We know that there are clear differences in the immune systems of men and women.
"Because what men and women's bodies are designed to do different things throughout the life, of course. So there are clear differences in immunology and in hormone profiles. And it could be that that is driving some of the reasons why we see the higher death rates in men".
Diana Sarosi, director of policy and campaigns for Oxfam Canada, also said the death rate could be attributed to men taking the coronavirus pandemic 'less seriously'.
“Women are very worried about what they’re seeing in terms of far-reaching and longterm impacts of this pandemic,” she told HuffPost Canada.
“What’s happening right now is very typical for any sort of crisis, in terms of women mobilizing to be first responders, taking on the care work."
The National Post reported on an Abacus poll last week that found that 49 per cent of Canadian women said they were “very worried” about the virus, compared to 30 per cent of men.
Meanwhile the Global Health 50:50 project findings state: "Understanding gender is essential to understanding the risk factors of poor health, early death and health inequities.
"The Covid-19 outbreak is no different. At this point in the pandemic, we are unable to provide a clear answer to the question of the extent to which sex and gender are influencing the health outcomes of people diagnosed with Covid-19.
"However, experience and evidence thus far tell us that both sex and gender are important drivers of risk and response to infection and disease.
"During previous epidemics of coronaviruses, male sex was associated with worse clinical outcomes due to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Hong Kong, and a higher risk of dying from Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS)."
Some countries are yet to release figures with a gender breakdown.
