Italy exceeds 100,000 deaths from coronavirus, 318 in the last 24 hours

Italy this Monday surpassed the threshold of 100,000 deaths due to coronavirus with 100,103 deaths, of which 318 in the last 24 hours, just one year after their appearance in the peninsula, announced the Ministry of Health.

The most affected regions are Lombardy (north), the economic engine of the country, with about 30,000 deaths, followed by Emilia-Romagna (north, with almost 11,000 deaths), then Piedmont and Veneto (both in the northeast), with almost 10,000 deaths each.

“These days the health crisis has worsened. Everyone should do everything possible to limit the spread of the virus,” the ministry warned.

In a video message, the Italian Prime Minister, Mario Draghi, announced that “the pandemic is not defeated and that with the acceleration of the vaccination campaign there is a way out not far away.”

Last week, the group of health experts GIMBE reported a 33% increase in the weekly number of infections from February 24 to March 2, with 123,000 cases, the highest figure recorded since last December.

“Faced with these figures we need tougher measures”, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wrote on Facebook on Sunday.

However, introducing tough new restrictions at the national level constitutes yet another blow to the third eurozone economy, already mired in a severe recession.

According to a poll published this weekend by the newspaper Il Corriere della Sera, 44% of Italians are in favor of confinement, compared to 30% two weeks ago.

On Sunday, the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, promised to intensify the vaccination campaign, which was halted by delays in supply, as happened in the rest of Europe.

Italy estimates that it will have 50 million doses before the end of June, allowing it to vaccinate “at least half” of the population, he said.

So far 5.4 million doses have been administered in Italy and only 1.65 million people have received the two doses necessary to be immunized.

Tighter restrictions on the fight against coronavirus came into force this Monday in Campania, the Naples region, which thus joins Basilicata and Molise (south) in the list of areas considered “red” (high risk), which are under maximum control.

The Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Veneto (north) regions, which were in yellow (moderate risk), have turned orange (medium risk).

As of now, 10 regions have been classified as “orange”, six “yellow”, three “red” and only one, Sardinia, is “white”, with few restrictions (use of the mask and social distancing).