More than 680 people died from COVID-19 in Italy in the 24 hours to Wednesday, the Italian Civil Protection Agency said, as concerns grew that the coronavirus was spreading more toward the south of the nation.
The death toll increased by 683 on Wednesday. That was lower than a spike of 743 on Tuesday, but more than the totals of the previous two days and the third-highest daily tally since the outbreak emerged in northern regions on Feb. 21.
Italy has seen more fatalities than any other nation, with the latest figures showing that 7,503 people had died in barely a month.
Photo: Reuters
The northern region of Lombardy, by far the hardest-hit, showed a steep decline in the number of deaths and new infections, raising hopes that the epidemic might be slowing at its original epicenter.
However, optimism was tempered by warnings from the south, where contagion and deaths are far less widespread, but are rising steadily and could overwhelm a health service that is much less well-equipped than in the richer north of the nation.
“At this point there is the real prospect that Lombardy’s tragedy is about to become the south’s tragedy,” Vincenzo de Luca, president of the Campania region around Naples, wrote in an open letter to Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
“We are on the eve of a major expansion of infections which may not be sustainable,” he said, complaining that the government had failed to provide Campania with promised ventilators and other life-saving equipment.
So far there have been 74 deaths in Campania, the worst-affected region in the south.
The central region of Lazio, around Rome, has registered 95 fatalities.
The total number of confirmed cases in Italy rose to 74,386 from 69,176, the agency said.
The rise of 7.5 percent was the lowest since the outbreak began, but only severely ill people are being tested and agency head Angelo Borrelli said this week that the true number of infections is probably 10 times those officially recorded.
Borrelli was not present at the customary news conference to illustrate the latest figures because he came down with a fever and was being tested.
With Italy in lockdown for the past two weeks and its economy on its knees, Conte on Wednesday promised a second 25 billion euros (US$27 billion) stimulus package next month, at least as much as the one he adopted earlier this month.
With his approval ratings at record highs, Conte appealed to the opposition to get behind the government’s efforts and halt its attacks on his handling of the crisis until it is over.
“There will be a time for everything, but now is the time for action and responsibility,” he told the Italian Chamber of Deputies.
One source of potential conflict for Conte was defused when the government reached an agreement with trade unions, who had threatened strikes because they wanted more companies shuttered to protect workers’ health.
Conte agreed to extend the production sectors that would be temporarily closed because they are not deemed essential to the supply chain.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of