Sad record for Italy in its fight against the coronavirus. It overtook China on Thursday evening in the number of victims of Covid-19, with 427 deaths in 24 hours to reach a total of 3,405, according to official figures. According to France TV Rome, the head of the Italian government, Giuseppe Conte, is considering tougher measures and an extended quarantine until May.
Italy thus becomes the first country for the number of deaths due to the epidemic, ahead of China (3,245), Iran (1,284) and Spain (767). Italy had officially listed its first two deaths on February 22.
A week ago, Italy had 1,016 dead: their number more than tripled. The country records 56 deaths per million inhabitants, before Spain with 16 deaths per million. China records 2.2 deaths per million inhabitants. More than two thirds of the deaths recorded in Europe since the beginning of the pandemic died in Italy.
Lombardy, a region which includes Milan, the country's economic capital, remains the most affected Italian region with nearly 20,000 cases and 2,168 deaths, followed by Emilia-Romagna (Bologna region, 5,214 cases and 531 deaths) and Veneto (Venice region, 3,484 cases and 11 deaths).
In addition, for several days, Piedmont (Turin region, to the northeast) has experienced a significant increase in its number of cases, which has doubled since March 16 to wait for 2,932 cases (including 115 deaths).
The peak of the epidemic is approaching
Several elected officials from the northern regions, where the contagion is still progressing strongly, believe that if it does not slow down in the coming days, it will be necessary to envisage even more rigid measures such as the ban on jogging.
The governor of Veneto, Luca Zaia (League, far right), said Tuesday that, to enforce confinement, tracking the movements of individuals through their mobile phone "is an excellent solution", even if he admits that poses a privacy concern.
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On Wednesday, Italy had already known the deadliest day ever recorded in the world in terms of victims of the virus, with 475 deaths in 24 hours.
The statistics are all the more worrying as the country could reach the peak of the epidemic next week, according to researchers from the University of Genoa. This team of infectious disease specialists and IT experts has developed a model which, they say, has so far shown its reliability on the evolution of the Covid-19, "with an acceptable margin of error".
For the past week, 60 million Italians have been confined to their homes and can only travel for professional or imperative reasons and any gathering is prohibited. Schools are also closed.