Italy’s health services feeling the strain as spread of Covid-19 is accelerating

The spread of COVID-19 is accelerating in Italy and the nation’s health services are starting to feel the strain, the Higher Health Institute said Friday in its weekly monitoring report on the pandemic.

The report, which refers to the September 28-October 4 period, said that there was an “acceleration” in the “deterioration” of the epidemic, reflected in a considerable work load for the regional health services.

It said that there were “significant elements of criticality” regarding the spread of the virus in Italy.

The health ministry said Friday that Italy has registered 5,372 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours. That was up from 4,458 new cases on Thursday as the country’s contagion curve continued to rise sharply. The ministry said 28 COVID-19 sufferers have died in the last 24 hours. It said 129,471 swab tests were taken in a single day.

Almost 1,000 of the new cases, 983, were registered in Lombardy, the worst-hit region. Campania had 769, Veneto 595 and Tuscany 483. At the moment 70,110 people are known to be positive for COVID-19 in Italy. The ministry said 387 COVID-19 patients are in intensive care units, up 29 in a day. The number of coronavirus patients in other hospital departments was up by 161 to 4,086.