Rome: Italy reported a record 627 new deaths from the coronavirus last Friday, and despite the government’s efforts to stop the epidemic, the highest casualties in the world still exceed 4,000.
Daily deaths in Mediterranean countries are now higher than the official death toll reported by China at the height of the outbreak in Wuhan and Hubei province.
But Matteo Bassetti, the famous San Martino clinic in Genoa, Italy, said the government may not know how many people actually have the new disease.
“The virus is present in people who walk around and there is a risk of infecting others,” Bassetti told AGI News in Italy.
“The 40,000 cases we’re talking about (Italy) are perhaps 100 times higher.”
With Italy becoming the new global epicenter of COVID-19, Italy is quickly setting a grim record.
Since reporting its first infection to the World Health Organization in late December, it has registered more than China’s official death toll in less than four weeks.
In the past three days alone, more than 1,500 people have died of COVID-19 in Italy.
The total number of deaths in Italy is currently 4,032.
Last Friday, the infection rate rose by nearly 6,000, setting an international record of 47,021.
In 1900 GMT, this country with a population of 60 million accounted for about 36.2% of the global deaths from coronavirus.
The Italian government plans to extend the ban on public gatherings and the closure of almost all companies by March 25.
But troubling regional leaders are urging the central government to impose stricter restrictions, such as banning outdoor sports and closing all shops on Sunday.
Some city governments leave things to themselves.
On Friday, more than 100 soldiers were deployed in Milan to help the police on the street and ensure that no one can be found outside without a valid reason, such as buying food.
The government took further steps on Friday to close all parks. Encourage joggers to run around the neighborhood and get closer to their home.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte imposed a national blockade on March 12 and hopes to see preliminary results within two weeks.
But Angelo Borrelli, the head of the civil protection department, said on Friday that it is too early to think about when the infection will start.
“There’s reason to think it could be next week or next week,” Borelli told reporters.
“But this is not a scientific fact.”
Among those registered as infected, the death rate in Italy is 8.6%, which is significantly higher than in most other countries.
Medical experts attribute this to an average age of 45.4 in Italy, 7 years older than China.
In the vast majority of fatalities in Italy, the elderly suffer from at least one disease.
The National Institutes of Health (ISS) said on Friday that the average age of the first 3,200 victims in Italy was 78.5 years.
Nearly 49% of them have three or more pre-existing diseases.
Only 1.2% of the deaths were free from other diseases.
