Silvio Brusaferro, the president of
Italy's Higher Health Institute, said Thursday that the number
of 'red zone' COVID-19 hotbeds is falling and the spread curve
is continuing to drop, both in terms of the number of
coronavirus cases and of the number of people with symptoms.
Herd Immunity Distant.
But during the regular press conference on the SarCov2
epidemic, Brusaferro also stressed that "herd immunity is still
far away".
Contagion Rate Below Zero.
He said that R0 contagion rate of the novel coronavirus was
"below zero in all of the regions.
"The curve of the COVID-19 epidemic continues substantially
to decline with the number of people with symptoms and the
number of cases in all of the regions," he added.
Fewer Red Zones.
He said the number of red zones of virus hotbeds was down to
74 municipalities in seven regions.
"This is a sign of the capacity to quickly identify hotbeds
and limit them," Brusaferro said.
Same Situation for Italians and Migrants.
The number of cases attributable to foreign nationals in
Italy amounts to 6,395, 5.1% of the total.
"The epidemic curve is similar in Italians and in
foreigners," explained Brusaferro.
"Further analysis will be presented on this next week".
Pre-existing Conditions.
Of the over 25,000 people to have died, 84% had two or three
existing conditions.
Regional Assessments.
Brusaferro said that the epidemiological situation varies
from region to region.
"The monitoring measures, which are currently being
finalized, will reflect the need to have specific means to
dialogue with the regions to understand what the situation is,"
he said.
"We will assess regional variations, because the decisions
made must take account of the real situation".
Kessler Institute Comes Out Against Reopening Schools.
Stefano Merler, an expert with the Bruno Kessler Institute,
said that children are four times less susceptible to getting
the virus than the elderly.
"We have conducted a study, which was published by 'Science',
that highlights how children are 66% less susceptible than
adults aged between 15 and 65," he said.
Nevertheless, he dismissed the idea of returning to normal
schooling.
"Reopening all the levels of school would lift the R0
contagion rate up to 1.3," he said.
"(It would be) an absolutely alarming situation that would
lead to very serious problems in a very short period of time".
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