683 additional deaths in Italy in the last 24 hours Through

683 additional deaths in Italy in the last 24 hours Through

Italy has registered 7,503 deaths since the start of the epidemic.
Italy has registered 7,503 deaths since the start of the epidemic. afp.com/Piero CRUCIATTI
Since the start of the epidemic, 7503 people have died from coronavirus in Italy, the second most affected country, followed by Spain.
Italy has registered 683 deaths in 24 hours, according to a new official report. This brings the total number of deaths to 7503 since the start of the epidemic.

However the increase in the number of cases of coronavirus continued on Wednesday to stagnate. This assessment shows an increase of 7.5% in positive cases (almost 75,000 in total), as on Monday and Tuesday, the lowest rates since the arrival of the virus in Italy.

Lombardy, in the north of the country, remains the most affected region with 4,474 deaths (+296 in 24 hours), followed by Emilia-Romagna (Bologna region, north) with 1,077 deaths. Lombardy, which includes Milan, is also the region with the highest number of cases, 32,346 registered out of 74,386 for the whole country, according to figures from civil defense.

"We are rather in line with the previous days, so this feeling of slowing of the growth of cases can be described as constant," commented the Governor of Lombardy Attilio Fontana Facebook. "It is very important, but we must absolutely not let go," he warned.


57 of the 107 Italian departments have reached the peak of the epidemic
According to a study by the National Research Council (CNR), 57 of the 107 Italian departments have reached the peak of growth of the epidemic. This is particularly the case for ten of the twelve Lombard departments, including that of Milan.

According to the researcher Giovanni Sebastiani, quoted in the study, "the 57 departments showing the peak of growth are in all the regions of the country (...) and this is undoubtedly a positive datum".

"These data comfort us because they mean that containment measures are obtaining the desired effect, even if we are in an initial phase of reduction, so we can speak of a trend, but we must be careful ". If they remain cautious, doctors and scientists are calling for continued efforts, while some 60 million Italians are in their third week of confinement.

"The slowdown in the speed of growth is an extremely positive factor. In some regions, we are close to the point of fall of the curve and the peak could therefore be reached this week, then fall," said on Radio Capitale the Deputy Director General of the World Health Organization, Ranieri Guerra. "What we are waiting for is to see the curve descend more quickly during these 5-6 days," he added.