Italy documented three days of the lowest number of Chinese coronavirus-related deaths in the country since March 19 this week. New confirmed cases of the disease are also on a decline.
Newly released data from Italy’s Civil Protection revealed on Monday that the nation is experiencing a reduction in new coronavirus cases – numbers that the country hasn’t seen since the beginning of the epidemic, according to a report by La Repubblica.
While 454 people have died in Italy from the outbreak in the last 24 hours – bringing the nation’s overall death toll to 24,114 – data from the past three days present a new daily low for the country, as Italy has not seen its numbers consistently in the 400s for over a month.
“For the first time since the beginning of the epidemic, the infection takes a few steps backwards instead of always moving forward,” reports La Repubblica. “The braking has been consistent for days, and the negative value of today is an important indicator. The increase in the sick (currently positive people) was negative for the first time.”
According to the head of Italy’s Civil Protection, Angelo Borrelli, “for a month, never so few have been hospitalized in intensive care.”
Borrelli added that 943,000 Italians have been tested for the Wuhan coronavirus.
The city of Naples, Italy, has experienced a total of zero new infections and zero deaths in the last 24 hours, reports La Repubblica, adding that Monday has been Naples’ fourth consecutive day without new coronavirus deaths.
While southern Italy has not been hit nearly as hard with the Chinese virus as the north, the latest data out of Naples provides uplifting news for many, as the south has been bracing itself to become the “new frontier of the virus.”
And in Italy’s northern city of Bergamo – the nation’s poster child with regards to coronavirus deaths – the emergency room is empty for the first time in a month and a half, and the total number of those hospitalized with the Wuhan virus has fallen to 298, reports La Repubblica.
Attilio Fontana, the governor of Italy’s worst-hit northern region of Lombardy, which houses Bergamo, is nonetheless against reopening the region by May 4.
“It would be a big risk, because the virus cannot spread if there are rules for everyone,” said Fontana, adding that the public should continue to follow rules meant to prevent the spread of the disease.
“If the contagion resumes it is a risk for everyone, and if we are unable to contain it by respecting all the same rules – I think we have to make common assessments between regions,” the governor added.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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