Covid: 24,259 positive, 97 victims. Appeal of anesthetists

24,259 Covid test positives have been identified in the last 24 hours, according to data from the Ministry of Health. Yesterday there were 28,064. There are 97 victims in one day, yesterday there were 123.

There are 566,300 molecular and antigenic swabs for the coronavirus carried out in the last 24 hours in Italy, according to data from the Ministry of Health. Yesterday there were 697,740. The positivity rate is 4.28%, stable from 4% yesterday. There are 966 patients in intensive care in Italy, 13 more than yesterday in the balance between income and expenses. Daily admissions are 78. The hospitalized with symptoms in the ordinary wards are 7,726, or 150 more than yesterday.

Based on the current trend in infections and hospitalizations, "in the next 2-3 weeks we expect a 70% increase in the number of beds occupied in intensive care by Covid patients, thus reaching about 1700 patients hospitalized in intensive care". This was stated to ANSA by Alessandro Vergallo, president of the Italian hospital anesthetists association (Aaroi-Emac). Today, he notes, the places in intensive care "are 9 thousand, but not all effective, and about a thousand are occupied. But it is unrealistic to think of being able to increase the number further because there is a lack of doctors. This is not the solution, we cannot squeeze yet. the system".

The solution to address "the foreseeable growth of the pandemic wave does not lie in infinitely increasing the number of intensive care and medical areas, but in adopting more drastic social containment measures to curb the circulation of the virus, such as the stringent lockdown for the unvaccinated ". Alessandro Vergallo, president of the Italian hospital anesthetists (Aaroi), underlines this to ANSA. "We have little time to act with more restrictive measures and prevent an increase in cases and hospitalizations. On the contrary, there has been a relaxation of prudent behavior, also due to the approaching holidays".

"We do not exclude protest actions by anesthetists and emergency room doctors, up to the strike, if politics continues to propose the multiplication of beds in intensive care and the medical area as the only solution to deal with the worsening of the pandemic wave, regardless of the chronic shortage of medical staff and the working conditions of health workers ".

Alessandro Vergallo underlines to ANSA.

"In other words, it is not possible to 'squeeze' further the hospital system, given the current conditions and the lack of doctors. So - concludes Vergallo - if this upside game continues, we are not ruling out very strong protest actions".