COVID-19 Delta variant still predominant in Italy, Health Institute says

The Delta variant of the coronavirus is still predominant in Italy, the National Health Institute (ISS) said, releasing data of a flash-survey showing it accounted for more than 99% of cases on Dec. 6.

By contrast the new Omicron variant accounted for 0,19% of cases, namely four, on the same day.

That flash-survey includes the cases of the variants detected on a single day as opposed to all those detected up to that time, the ISS said in a statement.

The number of cases of the Omicron variant as of Dec. 15 in Italy is 28, official figures show.

“Omicron’s presence was widely expected and future surveys will allow us to estimate the speed of its spread,” ISS president Silvio Brusaferro said.

South Africa alerted the world to Omicron in November, triggering alarm that it could cause a global surge in infections.

It has since been detected in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Scientists suspect that Omicron is more transmissible given its rapid spread, although they caution it’s too early to draw definitive conclusions about the severity of the disease that it causes.

Italy reported 129 coronavirus-related deaths on Wednesday against 120 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections rose to 23,195 from 20,677.

Italy has registered 135,178 deaths linked to COVID-19 since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the ninth-highest in the world. The country has reported 5.28 million cases to date.

Patients in hospital with COVID-19 – not including those in intensive care – stood at 7,309 on Wednesday, up from 7,163 a day earlier.

There were 84 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 93 on Tuesday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 870 from a previous 863.

Some 634,638 tests for COVID-19 were carried out in the past day, compared with a previous 776,563, the health ministry said.

Photo – A child holding a ‘certificate of courage’ shows her arm with band-aid at the vaccination hub of the Lazzaro Spallanzani infectious disease hospital during the start of the COVID-19 vaccination campaign for children in Rome, Italy, 15 December 2021. The first five young children were vaccinated in Italy as a jab rollout for five to 11-year-olds started on the day. EPA-EFE/GIUSEPPE LAMI