Italy: 49 People Die of Coronavirus in 24 Hours

Forty-nine people have died in Italy due to the Coronavirus in the last 24 hours, according to the head of Italy’s Civil Protection, Angelo Borrelli, who has provided the latest data on the nation’s COVID-19 crisis.

Italy has seen 49 more people die due to the Coronavirus, which brings the death toll from 148 on Thursday to 197 as of Friday, according to the daily announcement by the nation’s Civil Protection.

Moreover, a total of 4,636 people have been confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus as of Friday, which is an increase of 778 more people than Thursday.

The Civil Protection’s newly released data also reveals that all of Italy’s regions are now infected with the coronavirus, with the majority of cases most heavily concentrated in Italy’s northern regions, such as Lombardy (2,612), Emilia-Romagna (870), and Veneto (488).

Moreover, the number of ICU patients in Italy has increased to from 351 on Thursday to 462 as of Friday, according to a report by La Repubblica, which added that government sources spoke of “thousands” of hirings at hospitals in order to deal with the emergency, and that the provision for hiring doctors and health workers could go to the Council of Ministers as soon as Friday evening.

The new hires are expected to cost €1.5 billion of the €7.5 billion budget announced by the Italian government as its first measure to deal with the coronavirus crisis, reports La Repubblica.
As the virus continues to spread throughout the nation, the Italian government has also ordered that all schools in the country are to be closed until the middle of March.

Among the confirmed coronavirus cases in Italy, “11.28% of the total infected have recovered, while 4.25% have died,” said Borrelli, who has reportedly postponed until Saturday his decision on the possible expansion of quarantine zones in Italy.

There may be consequences for those who violate quarantine zones, according to the president of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità (ISS) — the leading technical-scientific body of Italy’s National Health Service — Silvio Brusaferro, who is asking the Italian people to comply with their guidelines in avoiding the spread of the coronavirus.

Read Complete Editorial Here