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Sardinian hotel with hundreds of guests locked down over coronavirus case

Some 470 people have been quarantined at a resort on the Italian island of Sardinia after a member of staff tested positive for the coronavirus.

Published: 19 August 2020 10:05 CEST

Sardinian hotel with hundreds of guests locked down over coronavirus case

A beach on La Maddalena, part of an archipelago off the Italian island of Sardinia. File photo: AFP

Local authorities ordered guests not to leave the resort on Monday after the case was detected at the Santo Stefano resort, on Sardinia's La Maddalena island.

The region's crisis unit conducted swab tests on some 470 vacationers and staff on Monday.

“We are waiting for the swabs to be processed, in the meantime we have arranged that no one leaves the resort,” stated regional health councilor Mario Nieddu.

READ ALSO: Italy shuts discos and orders mask-wearing at night as Covid cases rise

Guests are allowed to move freely around the resort itself, but mustn't leave, Italian media reports.

Two guests reportedly tried to escape shortly after the lockdown was ordered, but were stopped by local police on their way to Olbia airport.

Over the weekend, Italian authorities ordered the closure of nightclubs and tightened mask-wearing rules after the number of new cases detected in the country rose from 200-300 to 600 within one week.

Many of Italy's new cases have been attributed to holidaymakers – often Italians returning from abroad, health authorities said.

Italy reported 403 new positive cases within 24 hours on Tuesday, and five deaths.

The total number of Italian cases recorded since the start of the pandemic is now over 254,000, while the death toll has passed 35,400.

Italy is the second-hardest hit country in Europe after the UK in terms of deaths from Covid-19, and was the first country outside of China to suffer an outbreak of Covid-19. However, Italy is generally viewed as having managed the crisis relatively well, with infection rates dropping following a strict and lengthy lockdown.

Italian government ministers and health experts have repeatedly insisted that though cases have been rising again, they can be kept under control.

Authorities are urging people to continue to take basic precautions – wearing masks in public places, frequent hand-washing, and maintaining a distance from others.

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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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