Looking at the front pages of newspapers, we no longer read about the number of infections, the rate of positivity and the deaths due to Kovid-19. But that doesn’t mean the virus is gone.
According to data from the Ministry of Health in Italy, 79,920 new people registered in the last 24 hours are well aware of this. The number of patients in intensive care and general wards is also increasing with a positive rate of 26%.
So far, more than 1 in 10 cases, among those surveyed, have been reported as a reinfection: Patrizio Pezzotti, director of the ISS Epidemiology Department, explains, “The infection index is 1.40, well above the epidemiological threshold.” Is”. “This indicates an acute epidemic, with a sharp rise in cases. even the so-called RT EnhancedEven if slightly below, it is always above 1, so it still indicates an expansion phase ».
The same thing happens in other countries
one in 25 people England1 inch of 20 Wales and 17 inches. 1 in Scotland infected with the virus. According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), an estimated 2.3 million people are estimated to have had the virus last week, up 32% from the previous week.
Hospital admissions are also increasing, with the first signs of ICU hospitalization in older age groups.
In SpainMarcos López Hoyos, president of the Spanish Society of Immunology (SEI), calls for wearing masks indoors: “In 2-3 weeks, there will be many hospital cases and health problems” as a result of the seventh wave. According to him, this new wave “will equal or exceed the Christmas experience.”
special case that Macau, which today began the first lockdown since the start of the pandemic to contain the worst coronavirus wave since February 2020. The government announced a week-long lockdown after registering over 1,500 infections in the last 21 days. More than 30 casinos in the city, along with other non-essential businesses, will be closed for a week and people have been ordered to stay home. Police will control the flow of outsiders and strict punishment will be given to those who disobey.
Macau thus follows the Chinese “zero-Covid” policy which aims to eradicate all outbreaks, contrary to the global trend of living with the virus and making it endemic.
But beyond positive numbers, in Italy The main problem seems to be shortage of staff. Each positive swab is actually communicated to the health services database and isolation is ordered until the negativity is gone, which is reached between 7 and 14 days. The result is that there is a shortage of employees in many companies, who are forced to stay at home even without symptoms.
In this case, however, those who are asymptomatic cannot request a certificate of illness from their general practitioner and inform the company of their willingness to work in SmartWorking. Obviously this positively depends on the medical evaluation of the worker’s health condition. The regions are therefore preparing a document to be presented to the government in the coming days to reduce the period of quarantine for individuals whose symptoms are not directly linked to the spread of the virus.
Virologist Roberto Burioni said: “Obviously we can’t leave infectious people around. At the same time, we, as a society, cannot afford to deprive ourselves of the work of too many people for too much precaution. After vaccines and antivirals, it is time to understand how to link health security needs with the country’s economic, social and cultural needs. How to balance them is the sole function of politics, but the data on which to decide that must be provided by science.
From our London correspondent Melania Garda Cecoli.
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