already exceeded 6,000 dead

As Italy prepares for a “crucial” week in its fight against the spread of covid-19, its government reported a slight drop, for the second consecutive day, in the number of fatalities and new coronavirus infections: in the last 24 hours 601 people died, which would already exceed the 6,000 victims of this virus.

The head of Civil Protection, Angelo Borrelli, reported that 601 people died yesterday (compared to 651 the previous day) and another 3,780 were infected (compared to the 3,957 announced on Sunday).

Thus, this is the second consecutive drop in the number of victims and infections after the figures released this Sunday that had shown a reduction of 17% in deaths and 18% in new positives compared to Saturday.

In that direction, the government considers this to be a “crucial” week in the fight to stop coronavirus cases, in which it expects to see the “results” of the containment measures taken 15 days ago, reinforced with the decree signed by the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, and to which during this day the national authorization was added to the use of drones to monitor the population.

“The week will be absolutely crucial and we hope to see a sign of a trend reversal,” said the president of the Higher Health Council, Franco Locatelli, in statements reproduced by the Repubblica newspaper.

Italy, which since Thursday became the country with the most deaths with covid-19 in the world and this Monday reached 6,072 victims, concentrates in three northern regions of the country (Lombardy, Piemonte and Emilia-Romagna) more than 80% of the deaths, so the government took extreme measures in the last hours to prevent the peak from spreading to the south.

In this context, the prohibition of travel outside the commune of residence prevails from this day, and in the first hours of the rule’s effect, 115 people were rejected at the train station in northern Milan when they were looking to travel to southern Bari.

The National Civil Aviation Authority added the approval to the use of drones to monitor the movements of the population and verify that it complies with the restriction measures.

Late on Sunday, Conte signed the decree with which he seeks to close all the non-essential industries, in a new twist to the measures already implemented and that controls were increased to prevent the movement of people on the streets.

The new measures, which will finally take effect only on Wednesday, so that companies have time to settle down, have caused discontent among unions in the north of the country, which are demanding “more drastic measures”, and in some cases, such as metalworking and banking. , announced a cessation of activities for the same Wednesday.

Lombardy Governor Attilio Fontana announced that “immediately” they will begin to test the drug Avigan, successfully tested in Japan, among Italian patients.

Despite requests from the authorities to comply with the restrictions, according to data from the Interior Ministry, the number of people who violate the quarantine remains around 10,000 per day., a figure that threatens, according to specialists, against the intention of keeping controlled the spread of the virus.

While experts calculate that the number of infected people could more than double the official number, the Veneto region, also in the north, announced a plan to reach 20,000 daily tests in a few weeks, waiting to also detect asymptomatic cases that play a central role in the spread of the virus and that until now the central administration does not have in its calculations.

In that direction, the director of the hospital in the northern town Magenta, Nicola Mumoli, harshly criticized that “soccer players, actors and politicians” can access the test to determine if they are positive for the coronavirus while the examination is denied to the doctors in the area. most affected by the pandemic.

“A doctor who works among patients affected by covid-19 became ill, but after many calls to national phones she was denied the exam,” Mumoli denounced in a letter published in the Corriere newspaper, while “on the pages of the Newspapers tell about the good conditions of soccer players, actors and politicians, who underwent the examination, “criticized the official, who considered the situation to be” discrimination “.

Mumoli’s expression reflects the sayings of many Italians on social networks, after soccer players such as the Frenchman Blaise Matuidi, the Argentinean Paulo Dybala and his girlfriend the media Oriana Sabatini and other characters who do not fulfill essential tasks in society were subjected to the tests.

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