Authorities in Italy announced the deaths of five more coronavirus patients on Thursday bringing the number of people who have died from the illness to 17. Here’s the latest information on the situation in Italy. The country’s civil protection agency released a statement on Thursday evening saying the number of overall cases had risen to 650. That number includes around 40 people who had been infected but are now fully recovered.
The agency’s chief Angelo Borrelli said there had been a total of five more deaths on Thursday, bringing the total to 17. 14 of the fatalities were in the northern region of Lombardy which is the centre of the recent outbreak. The region has over 400 infected cases with around 10 percent of that number reported as recovered. Most of the victims who have died were elderly, many over the age of 80. Some of them had underlying health conditions including cancer. Italy has seen a huge surge in the number of cases since last Friday when only three were reported.
Italy now has the highest number of people with the virus in Europe and the highest death toll.
It has also been a point of contagion with many cases in other countries involving people who returned home after travelling in infection-hit areas of northern Italy. Italian authorities have also urged calm whilst taking action, sometimes draconian, to halt the spread of the virus. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte urged people “not to give in to panic and follow the advice of health authorities”. Since Sunday, more than 50,000 people have been confined to 10 towns in Lombardy and one in Veneto — a drastic measure taken to halt the spread of the disease. Italian government ministers have called for calm and stressed that Italy remains a safe country to visit, as most of the country remains unaffected by the virus. According to the World Health Organisation 80 percent of those who are infected with the virus only suffer mild symptoms such as a headache or soar throat. Around five percent end up in a critical condition.