New numbers out of the country with the highest coronavirus death rate in the world, show slowing infection rate.The numbers out of Italy have been staggering and frightening: the country ended the month of March with a total of 12,428 Covid-19 deaths, the highest in the world, and 105,792 confirmed cases, according to the country’s civil protection authority.
But there are signs that the country will soon be getting relief from its suffering. The number of infections is rising at a slower rate each day, the Guardian and other newspapers reported.
“Tuesday’s total was 4.1% more than Monday, which was 4.1% more than Sunday, which was itself 5.6% more than Saturday,” the British newspaper said. “Two weeks ago, by comparison, infections were rising at between three and four times that rate.”
“The curve tells us that we’re at a plateau,” Silvio Brusaferro, the president of Italy’s Higher Health Institute (ISS), told the Guardian. “That doesn’t mean we’ve hit the peak and that it’s over, but that we must start the descent … by applying the measures in force.”
Earlier, the Spanish newspaper La Vanguaria said that the number of new cases of infection in Italy had increased by just 4,050, the lowest number since March 17, reaching a total of 101,739 patients.
There’s also been an increase in the number of patients who have overcome Covid-19, the newspaper said. “Of the total number of infected nationwide, 14,620 had fully recovered on Monday, compared to 13,030 the previous day,” La Vanguardia said. “However, the number of people in intensive care slightly increased — 3,981 — compared to 3,906 the previous day.”
Borrelli emphasized that 1,590 people have been discharged from hospital, which is a record figure since the outbreak was declared in the country and brings to 14,620 patients who have recovered, the news outlet said.
Italy has been “locked down” for three weeks, in a desperate attempt to slow the spread of the virus. Authorities said it might not be until after Easter that new infections go down enough to start easing that lockdown, the Wall Street Journal reported.
