Italy facing critical phase as cases surge
Italy has two weeks to stop the rising rate of transmission of coronavirus or it risks “following in the footsteps” of European neighbors where exponential spreads have ushered back harsh restrictions, a virologist on the front lines says.
Italian health officials have declared that the resurgence of COVID19 has reached an “acute phase.” Massimo Galli, director of infectious diseases at Milan’s Luigi Sacco hospital, said Italy’s surge — which hit pandemic highs of new daily infections this week — is not the result of record testing, as policy makers have suggested, but a sign of a real return among the population most at risk.
Already in Milan, he said, the number of elderly patients or those with other risk factors is growing, indicating a spread beyond the expansion seen in late September.
On Friday, the region of Campania, which includes Naples, closed schools until the end of the month.