Italy: Active cases of coronavirus exceeded one million

The number of so-called active cases of the new coronavirus surpassed one million again on Sunday in Italy, following its rapid spread over the past two weeks.

As recently as June 17, Italy measured fewer than 575,000 cases. Yesterday, the number reached 1.01 million, or in other words a 75% increase in 16 days.

According to the Italian Ministry of Health, the resurgence of the pandemic is attributed to the Omicron 5 subvariant.

Italy is only the fourth country in the world where so-called active cases exceed one million. The remaining three are the US (3.5 million), Germany (1.5 million) and France (1.4 million), according to data from the World Health Organization.

The virus’s reproduction index continues to rise: on Friday, it was reported to have risen for a fourth week, reaching 1.30.

The number of deaths due to COVID-19, however, remains below the psychological limit of 100, 57 were found yesterday Sunday. Overall, the peninsula has recorded 168,545 deaths out of a total of 17.5 million infections. This is the second highest death toll in Europe, after that of Britain, and the eighth highest in the world.

The number of patients with COVID-19 in intensive care units (ICUs) is increasing, reaching 291 yesterday (+16 in 24 hours). However, it is less than ten times compared to the period when the pandemic was at its peak in Italy, two years ago.

The outbreak of the pandemic is recorded despite a generally successful immunization campaign. Based on official data until yesterday, 90.1% have been fully vaccinated. Given that 96.6% of the population is either fully vaccinated or has recovered from COVID-19 in the past six months, theoretically the level of immunity should be high.

SOURCE: AMPE