Rome: Italian health authorities said that a total of 7,985 coronavirus infection cases have been registered in the country, while the death toll has risen to 463.
“We have registered 102 new recoveries today, which brings the total to 724,” Civil Protection Department chief Angelo Borrelli, who serves as extraordinary commissioner for the coronavirus emergency, said at a press conference on Monday, Xinhua reported.
“We have also had 97 new fatalities, which has brought the death toll to 463,” he added.
Considering all data (including deaths and recoveries), the number of coronavirus cases assessed by health authorities was 9,172.
The official confirmed the vast majority of the fatalities occurred among elderly people.
“One per cent of the deceased were aged between 50 and 59 years old, some 10 per cent between 60 and 69, 31 per cent between 70 and 79, another 44 per cent between 80 and 89, and 14 per cent were over 90,” Borrelli said.
At the same time, health authorities on Monday highlighted not only elders were at risk of infection. The communication came after several cases of young people not respecting new restricting rule in social life to contain the epidemic have been reported in recent days.
“The 22 percent of patients positive for COVID-19 are between 19 and 50 years old,” Italy’s National Health Institute (ISS) said in a statement.
“This is stated by an analysis of the National Health Institute, which makes it very clear that rules of social distancing must be respected by all age groups, including young people,” it added.
With regard to the health conditions of the 7,985 people currently positive for the coronavirus, the Civil Protection chief specified 4,316 of them were hospitalized with symptoms, another 733 were in intensive care, and 2,936 people asymptomatic or with light symptoms were in isolation at home.
Also on Monday, the Civil Protection Department coordinating the national task force against the epidemic confirmed new equipment and materials were being sent across hospitals in the most affected regions in order to strengthen their response capacity.
“Today we have begun distributing 325 new ventilators for intensive and sub-intensive care units, starting with Lombardy,” the extraordinary commissioner told the press conference.
To control the spread of the virus, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced late on Monday that the containment measures will be extended to the entire country in the next hours.
“All movements will be restricted across the entire country, but for those justified by three specific reasons: provable work reason, emergency cases, and health needs,” Conte told a televised press conference.
The new rules are to be included in a decree that would enter into force by Tuesday, and stay in force at least up to April 3, according to the prime minister.
