Coronavirus deaths fall again in Italy but lockdown extension looms

By Giulia Segreti

 

FILE PHOTO: A man jogs at an empty Navona square as Italy tightens measures to try and contain the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Rome, Italy March 28, 2020. REUTERS/Alberto Lingria

 

ROME (Reuters) - The number of deaths from coronavirus in Italy fell for the second consecutive day on Sunday but the country still looked almost certain to see an extension of stringent containment measures.

 

The Civil Protection department said 756 people had died in the last day, bringing the total to 10,779 - more than a third of all deaths from the virus worldwide.

 

There were 133 fewer deaths than the 889 deaths reported on Saturday, when the numbers fell from a record high of 919 on Friday.

 

While the total number of confirmed cases rose to 97,689 on Sunday from a previous 92,472, it was the lowest daily rise in new cases since Wednesday.

 

But despite hopes by Italian officials that the downward trend would continue, it appeared increasingly likely that restrictions on all but essential activities that were due to expire on Friday would be soon officially extended.

 

"The measures that were due to expire on April 3 inevitably will be extended," Regional Affairs Minister Francesco Boccia told Sky TG24 television.

He said the timing would be decided by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and the government based on data from the medical and scientific community.

 

"I think that it would be inappropriate and irresponsible to talk of re-opening (schools and production sites)," Boccia said.

 

Italian media have reported that the extension could last for a further two weeks until about April 18.

 

Italy's sports minister said on Sunday he would propose banning all sports events, including soccer matches, for the whole of April.

 

Health Minister Roberto Speranza asked Italians not to let the guard down.

 

"We would erase all the efforts made so far to rein in contagion. The sacrifices of the last weeks are serious," he told Corriere della Sera newspaper in an interview published on Sunday.

 

The daily deaths in the northern region of Lombardy, the area that has borne the brunt of the emergency, were down sharply from Saturday's tally.

 

"There isn't an exponential rise in the data anymore, showing that what has been done is giving results," said Danilo Cereda, an official from the Lombardy regional government.

 

But Giulio Gallera, the top health official in the northern region of Lombardy, said Italians had to acknowledge that they would have to live "in a different way in the coming months".

 

More than 662,700 people have been infected by the novel coronavirus across the world and 30,751 have died, according to a Reuters tally.

 

(Additional reporting by Gavin Jones; editing by Philip Pullella and Jane Merriman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-30

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Don't let your guard down yet Italy,your far from being safer yet,keep your restrictions going for now.

Italy might be counting a lot of death as CORONA, even if it WAS NOT corona ...

 

scare people

 

reversal of what thailand does and said it was not corona , it was viral pneumonia

 

don't scare the $$$$$$ tourists

So 30,000 people around the world have died of the virus which started say 100 days ago, which equates to 300 people per day worldwide. In pre-virus times the average world death rate was around 150,000 people per day, just to put these figures into perspective. Many more people are dying daily from other ailments than from Corona-19, but these other ailments are not getting the incredible coverage given to Corona. Just a thought, are we being led to over reaction ? Is there a scaremongering force out there hard at work ? because big pharma is waiting in the background poised to make billions out of this little baby since the formerly dreaded incurables Herpes, Aids, etc are old hat nowadays. I personally am not in favour of dying, but things should be put in their proper perspective ????

chloroquine + some antibiotics seems to be working in just 6 days

 

what is in the news:  some dumb people took the FISH TANK cleaner, that sounded like chloroquine, but which it is not and DIED ... and TRUMP is being blamed, he never said to take it own your own and never to try FISH TANK cleaner instead of real medicine

3 hours ago, phantomfiddler said:

So 30,000 people around the world have died of the virus which started say 100 days ago, which equates to 300 people per day worldwide. In pre-virus times the average world death rate was around 150,000 people per day

Right. So the world population in 2020 is around 7.8b, if you don't control the spreading of the virus whatsoever, you'll get everyone infected in 3-4 months. Let's say COVID-19's overall mortality rate is 1%, so you get 78m COVID-19 fatalities vs 13.5-18m deaths if the things were normal. Not a big deal indeed

At the current rate of infection, It can be questioned how long the Italian epidemic will be able to sustain itself. For instance, they tested 3,000 people in the village of Vó in Padua and every test was positive. They were ALL infected. Every one of them! More than likely, this virus has been present for some time and it is clearly viciously contagious. At some point, the virus will run out of bodies to infect, just as in Vó. Give it another month and the citizens of Vó will be out of this nightmare.

 

Unfortunately, I believe every single country will have to go through what the italians are currently experiencing.

 

16 minutes ago, Forethat said:

At the current rate of infection, It can be questioned how long the Italian epidemic will be able to sustain itself. For instance, they tested 3,000 people in the village of Vó in Padua and every test was positive. They were ALL infected. Every one of them! More than likely, this virus has been present for some time and it is clearly viciously contagious. At some point, the virus will run out of bodies to infect, just as in Vó. Give it another month and the citizens of Vó will be out of this nightmare.

 

Unfortunately, I believe every single country will have to go through what the italians are currently experiencing.

 

Unless there's been a huge and inexplicable change since Mar 17, your version of the story is incorrect. 

Aggressive testing helps Italian town cut new coronavirus cases to zero

    The first testing round, carried out on the town’s entire population in late February, found 3 per cent of the population infected, though half of the carriers had no symptoms. After isolating all those infected, the second testing round about 10 days later showed the infection rate had dropped to 0.3 per cent.

Importantly, however, this second round identified at least six individuals who had the virus but no symptoms, meaning they could be quarantined. “If they hadn’t been identified, the infection would have resumed,” explained Prof Crisanti.

https://www.ft.com/content/0dba7ea8-6713-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3

 

What the story of this village actually illustrates is the effectiveness of testing and isolating those who test positive.

23 minutes ago, bristolboy said:

Unless there's been a huge and inexplicable change since Mar 17, your version of the story is incorrect. 

Aggressive testing helps Italian town cut new coronavirus cases to zero

    The first testing round, carried out on the town’s entire population in late February, found 3 per cent of the population infected, though half of the carriers had no symptoms. After isolating all those infected, the second testing round about 10 days later showed the infection rate had dropped to 0.3 per cent.

Importantly, however, this second round identified at least six individuals who had the virus but no symptoms, meaning they could be quarantined. “If they hadn’t been identified, the infection would have resumed,” explained Prof Crisanti.

https://www.ft.com/content/0dba7ea8-6713-11ea-800d-da70cff6e4d3

 

What the story of this village actually illustrates is the effectiveness of testing and isolating those who test positive.

Thanks for pointing out this error. The 3,000 infected citizens of Vó was discussed in Italian news telly on Saturday morning. I have done some research and as you correctly point out, it appears this is incorrect.   

2 minutes ago, Forethat said:

Thanks for pointing out this error. The 3,000 infected citizens of Vó was discussed in Italian news telly on Saturday morning. I have done some research and as you correctly point out, it appears this is incorrect.   

You're welcome.

good news at last for italy and all of us,i hope the nos continue to fall as the lock down and testing bites the virus,we have seen the peak hopefully,a lesson to all of us.where do we test easily and cheaply thai govt?this is the crux of the matter so respond,we ve been lucky so far ,i think its the weather as the gov response has added to possible infections,IE boxing matches ,sending foreign and provincial workers home and allowing the chinese carriers to stay after everyones screaming no.do the right thing for once deal with it ,help yourself and the country and all of us who are here,test test test.treat treat treat.you will have to  pay for it  but longer term youll reap a big benefit for all

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited March 30, 20206 yr by rupert the bear
typo strong lang

On 3/30/2020 at 9:09 AM, bristolboy said:

You're welcome.

According to La Repubblica, a study by Carlo La Vecchia (renowned epidemiologist) and Eva Negri at the Milan State University now shows that the number of infected individuals in Italy probably is at least ONE HUNDRED times higher than official numbers. According to this study, at least 5 million people in Italy are already infected, but it COULD be as many as 20 million (a third of the population).

 

https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/locali/2020/04/03/news/milano_la_ricerca_dell_universita_statale_i_contagi_reali_in_italia_potrebbero_essere_5_milioni_-253027121/

Edited April 4, 20206 yr by Forethat

11 minutes ago, Forethat said:

According to La Repubblica, a study by Carlo La Vecchia (renowned epidemiologist) and Eva Negri at the Milan State University now shows that the number of infected individuals in Italy probably is at least ONE HUNDRED times higher than official numbers. According to this study, at least 5 million people in Italy are already infected, but it COULD be as many as 20 million (a third of the population).

 

https://rep.repubblica.it/pwa/locali/2020/04/03/news/milano_la_ricerca_dell_universita_statale_i_contagi_reali_in_italia_potrebbero_essere_5_milioni_-253027121/

I hope that's true.

1 minute ago, bristolboy said:

I hope that's true.

The numbers are in line with the latest information collected in China. Though I haven't read the actual report it was cited in BMJ a couple of days ago:

 

Quote

 

Chinese authorities began publishing daily figures on 1 April on the number of new coronavirus cases that are asymptomatic, with the first day’s figures suggesting that around four in five coronavirus infections caused no illness. Many experts believe that unnoticed, asymptomatic cases of coronavirus infection could be an important source of contagion.

A total of 130 of 166 new infections (78%) identified in the 24 hours to the afternoon of Wednesday 1 April were asymptomatic, said China’s National Health Commission.

 

https://www.bmj.com/content/369/bmj.m1375