Italian Deputy Minister of Health: Extension of the state of emergency, if necessary

Italian Deputy Health Minister Pierpaolo Sileri spoke today about the government’s next steps in tackling the coronavirus pandemic.

“If deemed necessary, we will extend the state of emergency to best deal with the pandemic. If we decide, however, it will be a limited extension,” he said in a radio interview.

“The appearance of the Omicron variant has changed our predictions to some extent, but I think we have almost left behind the most critical phase. A lot also depends on how the vaccination process will continue, with the first and third doses,” he added. Sileri. It is recalled that, based on the decisions so far, the state of emergency in the country should end on December 31.

At the same time, the other Deputy Minister of Health of the Draghi government, Andrea Costa, in an interview on Rai public television, called on the Italians to “read” the epidemiological and statistical data correctly: “Last year, at the same time, there were 30,000 patients in our hospitals. with covid-19, while now it is 6,000. In the intensive care units it was 3,300 and today it is less than 800 “, said Costa.

He explained that “the increase in cases is mainly due to the fact that there are clearly more tests than in 2020” and concluded by reiterating that “the main, positive element is that 87% of the country’s population over the age of 12 have receive the first dose of the vaccine and 85% the second “.

Source: AMPE