The coronavirus crisis has escalated on Friday several levels in Italy. 14 people have tested positive in the town of Codogno, in Lombardy (northern Italy), and two others in the Veneto region, in Padua, according to the latest information. They are the first known cases of transmission by transmission of this disease in the country. A situation that has led to the mandatory quarantine of about 250 people and the isolation of ten bordering towns that total around 40,000 inhabitants. In addition, the regional government has forced to close all public premises and has recommended that residents not leave their homes in the next few hours. The medical alarm has also been unleashed because it is not clear the focus of infection or the epidemiological link that would allow the disease to be isolated.
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WHO declares international alert to the unstoppable expansion of the Wuhan coronavirusPassengers with masks, at the train station in Beijing (China). PHOTO: Kevin Frayer getty
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The first case detected was that of a 38-year-old Italian man from Castiglione d'Adda. The patient was hospitalized on Wednesday, but at first there was no obvious connection to China and it was ruled out that the symptoms could be related to the disease. When his situation worsened and he had to be transferred to the intensive care unit, his wife gave the alert that activated the protocol: the man had met several times with a friend who had recently returned from China. But the track was more disconcerting.
The meetings between the two occurred many more days after his return from the Asian country. More than 14 in which the duration of the incubation process is established and that could hide the symptoms. In addition, when the potential carrier of the virus was analyzed, it was negative. The man is still hospitalized for further tests, but he never had any symptoms and if he actually contracted the virus, his infection could be over by now, health authorities suggested. The worst case scenario, and hence the alarm unleashed in the region, is that the epidemiological link was lost.
The wife, who is eight months pregnant, was one of those who tested positive for the coronavirus test, as was a man who had played sports with him. The other infections did not, in principle, have direct contact with the 38-year-old man. There are three customers of a bar in Codogno. All arrived between Thursday night and Friday at the hospital in that town with pictures of important pneumonia, which allowed to detect the positives. "The patients are men and women, all around 40 years of age. The only element we know is that they all live in the same area," said regional health farmer, Giulio Gallera. However, eight other people in Lombardy joined the list of infections, among which there are five doctors and three patients from the Codogno hospital where the first people who contracted the virus were treated.
The environment of the man who was first infected has been isolated. The patient works at an Italian Unilever branch, while the friend who made the trip to China is a manager of MAE, an Italian producer of synthetic fibers. Among the people who should be in quarantine are the coworkers of this 38-year-old man, his relatives and the doctors and nurses who treated him in the hospital. The emergency room that initially treated the 38-year-old man has also been closed.
The regional government has decided to close schools, administrative buildings and bars and restaurants in ten villages for five days. In addition, he has asked people not to leave their homes. It is necessary to immediately isolate the areas where the virus was developed to contain it, "said Lombardy Civil Protection Commissioner Pietro Foroni." We must not sow panic, but we have to make people understand that the measures that have been taken they are essential for the good of the community, "said the President of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana. The Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, and the head of the National Civil Protection Agency, Angelo Borrelli, went to Lombardy this afternoon to keep a crisis meeting with local authorities.