The controversy swells on the peninsula. Are some Italian regions cheating on coronavirus infection figures? These doubts weigh particularly on Lombardy, the region most affected by Covid-19, as the country prepares to reopen its borders.
"It is reasonable to suspect that some regions are using tricks so as not to have to close again," Nino Cartabellotta, head of Fondazione GIMBE, a health think tank, said on RAI24 on Thursday. "Lombardy is one of them". There, he says, there have been "too many strange things in the data for the past three months," including people who were counted as cured when they left the hospital, but still sick.
There have been suspicious delays in the release of the data, even now that the critical phase has ended, Nino Cartabellotta said again, and days where far fewer tests have been performed, as if the region is avoiding new cases. . "It is as if there was some kind of need to keep the diagnosed figures below a certain level," he said.
Regional authorities denied, threatening to prosecute. But these accusations have caused a stir in the country.
16,000 deaths in Lombardy, half the deaths in Italy
Italy has officially registered more than 33,100 deaths for more than 231,000 cases since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, including almost 16,000 deaths in Lombardy alone and more than 88,000 cases.
The deconfinement started on May 4 and is progressing gradually. Most of the shops, bars and restaurants have reopened with distancing measures, as have the great emblematic monuments.
From June 3, Italians will again be able to move freely between all regions of the country, but the government has reserved the right to keep some of the 20 regions closed if it considers that they still pose a risk of contagion. Foreign tourists from the EU will also be able to enter the country from the same date.
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According to official figures, Lombardy registered 382 new cases on Thursday, nearly two-thirds of the figure for all of Italy (593).
The South threatens to refuse the inhabitants of the North
For the daily La Stampa, "dozens" of virologists have denounced in recent weeks "inconsistencies in the data because they underestimate" the number of cases of infection.
Three regions of the South - Campania, Sardinia and Sicily - have also threatened not to let in the inhabitants of the North or to impose a quarantine period on them.
Faced with uncertainty, the government has postponed a week's freedom to travel between regions, press reports said on Friday. "Green light for everyone on June 3 or dismissal for a week", thus headlined the Corriere della Sera.
VIDEO. An “anti-coronavirus” range tested in Italy