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HEALTH

Row breaks out over Italian doctor’s claim virus ‘no longer exists’

Italian government ministers and health experts on Monday warned there was no evidence to support a claim by a leading doctor that the new coronavirus "no longer exists" in the country.

Published: 1 June 2020 11:09 CEST
Updated: 1 June 2020 17:02 CEST
Row breaks out over Italian doctor's claim virus 'no longer exists'
Alberto Zangrillo, head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan. File photo: AFP

The government is urging caution as the country prepares this week to restart travel: the next big step in easing the national lockdown imposed three months ago.

From Wednesday, some foreign visitors will be able to enter again and people will be able to move between regions.

READ ALSO: Who is allowed to travel to Italy from June 3rd?

But the government has insisted this is one of the most dangerous phases, urging people to abide by social distancing rules and wear masks to prevent the virus from spreading again.

There was widespread concern that the unproven claims would undermine this effort and confuse the public.

“In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy,” said Alberto Zangrillo, head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, the capital of the northern Lombardy region, which has been the worst-hit by the pandemic.

“The swabs performed over the past 10 days have showed a viral load that is absolutely infinitesimal in quantitative terms compared to those carried out a month or two months ago,” he said in an interview on Rai television on Sunday.

“Someone has to take responsibility for terrorising the country”, added Zangrillo, who has also been a personal doctor to former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi for around 30 years.

His words prompted cries of disbelief from other experts, and a public warning from the government.

“Pending scientific evidence to support the thesis that the virus has disappeared, I would invite those who say they are sure of it not to confuse Italians,” health ministry undersecretary Sandra Zampa said in a statement.

READ ALSO: Italian regions accused of tampering with virus data ahead of repening

The director of the prestigious Spallazani infectious diseases institute in Rome, Giuseppe Ippolito, said there was no scientific proof the virus had mutated or changed in potency.

National Health Council head Franco Locatelli said he was “baffled” by Zangrillo's comments.

“It's enough to look at the number of new positive cases confirmed every day to see the persistent circulation in Italy of the new coronavirus,” he said.

International experts also weighed in on Monday.

“In a situation where the numbers of severe cases are falling, there may be time to start observing people with less severe symptoms – giving the impression that the virus is changing,” said Martin Hibberd, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

Dr. Oscar MacLean, of the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, said Zangrillo's claims were “not supported by anything in the scientific literature, and also seem fairly implausible on genetic grounds”.
 
The Italian government also said it was too early to celebrate, and warned that there were risks involved with the next phase of reopening.
 
Italy reported 355 new cases of the virus on Sunday, more than 200 of which were in the Lombardy region.

At least 33,500 people are known to have died from Covid-19 in Italy.

 

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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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