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LATEST: Italy urges public to stay home over Easter as intensive care numbers continue to drop

Coronavirus in Italy has claimed another 542 lives, it was reported Wednesday, but the number of patients in intensive care fell for the fifth consecutive day.

Published: 8 April 2020 17:34 CEST
LATEST: Italy urges public to stay home over Easter as intensive care numbers continue to drop
A masked man walks in front of a closed church in Calabria on Wednesday. Photo: AFP

There were 542 new fatalities reported on Wednesday. In total, 17,669 lives have now been lost to the virus in Italy.

The highest daily reported death toll was 969 on March 27.

There are still 3,693 patients in intensive care, but the total number of patients in critical conditions fell for the fifth consecutive day.

A total of 3,836 new cases confirmed on Wednesday, higher than yesterday's  3.039, though overall the number of new cases has been rising more slowly.

As of Wednesday, there have now been 139,422  cases in total since the outbreak began, according to official figures, including the deceased and recovered patients.

ANALYSIS: How and when will Italy's lockdown end?

There have now been almost 24,500 recoveries in Italy, the data shows.

Photo: AFP

 
While fewer new deaths and cases are being reported, the numbers remain high and officials have repeatedly warned the public not to let their guard down and to continue to follow quarantine rules.

Leading Italian health expert Nino Cartabellotta said on Wednesday that for potentially looser measures to be implemented under “phase two” of quarantine, the increase in new cases would need to drop to below one percent.

Wednesday's increase in cases was 2.8 percent.

 
“The health and economic effects of a new rising curve would be disastrous,” he said.

Police in Italy are preparing to tighten controls over the Easter weekend. amid dears that the slowing rate of infections and warm weather will tempt Italians to flout the rules.

Cities includng Milan will increase the number of roadblocks in place this weekend, enforcing rules preventing people from visiting relatives out of town or spending the Easter holiday at their second home.

Health officials warned this week that the outbreak appears to have peaked in some areas only because of the various closures and bans, which they insist must remain in place – perhaps until a vaccine is developed or some reliable tests can show who has immunity against the new disease.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is now consulting the government's scientific committee this week about ways to safely end the lockdown, which has now been in place for almost a month.

The government is now planning to implement “phase two” of lockdown measures, described as an intermediary period between the current strict lockdown and “phase three”, during which the country will begin to return to normality.

READ ALSO: 'A summer without travel': How long will Italy's coronavirus lockdown 'phase two' last?

Not much is known yet about official plans for phase two and three, but the government is looking at the possibility of making changes from the end of the current lockdown period, on April 13.

While those keen to reopen businesses argue that the country should loosen measures from the beginning of May, health authorities warn that some measures could remain in place until the end of the year.

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HEALTH

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

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Published: 11 September 2023 12:48 CEST
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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