Italy is finally seeing itself wrestling the Covid 19 beast after months of what seemed to be a futile battle, on Friday the country posted a decrease in intensive care cases and hospitalisations as the death toll pushed past the 30,000 mark.
According to the latest numbers released by the country’s Civil Protection Department, the nationwide total of active infections fell by 1,663 cases to 87,961, down from a total of 89,624 infections on Thursday.
Of those who tested positive for the new coronavirus, 1,168 are in intensive care (down by 143 patients compared with Thursday’s) and 14,636 are hospitalized with symptoms (down by 538 patients over the past 24 hours).
The death toll on Friday was 243, taking the total to 30,201 since the outbreak was first recorded in Italy’s northern Lombardy region on Feb. 21. The total number of COVID-19 infections, fatalities, and recoveries since the pandemic began has risen to 217,185 cases over the past 24 hours, from 215,858 on Thursday.
During a televised press conference earlier in the day, National Institute of Health (ISS) President Silvio Brusaferro said “the epidemiological curve is decreasing” and “we are moving towards fewer and fewer cases” across all of Italy’s 20 regions.
Also on Friday, the National Institute for Insurance against Accidents at Word (INAIL) said in a statement that over 37,000 COVID-19 infections occurred in the workplace between the end of February and May 4 this year. These infections resulted in 129 fatalities, of which 82.2 percent were men and 17.8 percent were women, INAIL noted. Almost 73.2 percent of the cases and 40 percent of the fatalities took place in the health care and social services.
The Lombardy region had the highest incidence of infections (34.2 percent) and deaths (43 percent), followed by the northern regions of Piedmont, with 14.9 percent of infections, Emilia Romagna (10 percent), Veneto (8.9 percent), Tuscany (5.8 percent) and Liguria (4.2 percent). The average age of those infected was 47 years, while the average age of those who died was 58, stated INAIL.
Recovery and opening up the economy is now on the agenda of Italian President Sergio Mattarella, with cafe’s and parks slowly resuming operation, queues and chatters along cobbles alleys can once again be heard.
