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.
DITCH TACTICS: Kenyan officers were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch suspected to have been deliberately dug by Haitian gang members A Kenyan policeman deployed in Haiti has gone missing after violent gangs attacked a group of officers on a rescue mission, a UN-backed multinational security mission said in a statement yesterday. The Kenyan officers on Tuesday were on their way to rescue Haitian police stuck in a ditch “suspected to have been deliberately dug by gangs,” the statement said, adding that “specialized teams have been deployed” to search for the missing officer. Local media outlets in Haiti reported that the officer had been killed and videos of a lifeless man clothed in Kenyan uniform were shared on social media. Gang violence has left
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
RSS