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Italy records almost 1,000 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours

Italy recorded a sharp spike in coronavirus deaths on Friday with 969 new victims, the worst daily record for any country since the pandemic began.

Published: 27 March 2020 18:17 CET

Italy records almost 1,000 coronavirus deaths in 24 hours

AFP

The infection rate however continued its downward trend, with the civil protection agency reporting nearly 86,500 confirmed cases in Italy – a 7.4 percent increase, down from around 8.0 percent in previous days.

That represents the smallest rise in recorded cases since the epidemic began, albeit health officials say the real number of coronavirus cases in the country is far higher than the 86,498 recorded.

The national commissioner for the emergency, Domenico Arcuri, said army helicopters were going to be used to speed up the distribution of emergency medical and sanitary supplies.

How Italy has changed the way it records daily coronavirus figures

Earlier on Friday experts said Italy's coronavirus epidemic could peak in the next few days, but regional authorities warned the crisis was far from over, as four more frontline doctors died.

The national health institute (ISS) cautiously suggested lockdown measures to curb the spread of the disease – which has claimed over 8,100 lives and infected some 80,000 people — may soon bear fruit.

“I want to be clear on one point. We have not peaked yet,” the institute's head Silvio Brusaferro said.

“There are signs of a slowdown, which makes us believe that we are close, we could peak in the next few days.”

But virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco warned that would not translate into a go-ahead to ease lockdown measures.

The slight slowing in case numbers “should strengthen our desire to continue. We must not drop our guard.”

READ ALSO: When will the coronavirus epidemic peak in Italy?

Military doctors and nurses battling the disease in field hospitals were thanked by Italy's defence minister Lorenzo Guerini, who said they were making the country proud.

“The battle is still a long one, we have a lot of work to do, but together we will succeed,” he said via Skype.

He warned, however, that “more sacrifices will be required of you” before the worst was over.

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Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

READ ALSO:

Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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