Italy: they claim that a 13 times more contagious mutation of the coronavirus is wreaking havoc in Europe

Julio Algañaraz

11/03/2020 2:20 PM

• Clarín.com

• World

Updated 11/03/2020 2:20 PM

In Italy, the daily death toll rose to 353 with 28,244 infected.

While the government was preparing to announce a plan of "selective quarantine" measures, dividing the 20 regions

(red, orange, green), according to the severity of the risks, to contain the runaway expansion of Covid-19, It was learned that several groups of European and North American researchers have discovered

that makes it thirteen times more contagious than the original version from Wuhan, where it originated in China, and

that has aggravated the pandemic in recent years. time.

One of the scientists who has stood out the most is Professor

, epidemiologist at the Biométido Campus in Rome.

In support of their conclusions, the prestigious scientific journal "Nature" published the results of the experiments carried out at the University of Texas.

The conclusion was that

of 13.9 times

had been verified

, even at very high temperatures, which would explain why in the boreal summer this mutated variant

in various regions of the world.

Professor Cicozzi said that

, the scientific name of the variant, is spreading in the same China, where the corona virus was born, and then spread around the world in its original version.

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Cicozzi said that the impressive action of the mutated virus D614G explains why

in Europe so far, causing an impressive spread of Codiv-19.

On the other hand, it was also reported that the full-speed spread of the virus in Italy and Europe

called

, which developed in Spain during the summer holidays.

In Italy, these variants would be

of the second phase of the epidemic, which began on February 21 in Lombardy in a first phase that lasted until the arrival of summer.

In March and April the pestilence reached its highest level and caused at least 30,000 deaths, some of which were not registered as victims of the virus.

Italy was the country with the most fatalities in all of Europe.

v 1.5

Coronavirus in Italy

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Source:

Infographic:

In June and July the epidemic seemed tamed after

72-day

until mid-May.

The summer, however, incubated the current disaster with the vacations, the moves and the summer transgressions.

In September the virus grew again and the second phase broke out in October.

It went from less than a thousand infected on the last day of September to 31 thousand registered in 24 hours on October 31.

With the continuous rise in the number of infected, dead and interned in Intensive Care or special posts for Covid-19 patients, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, who had decided in three weeks as many packages of insufficient measures to contain the pandemic , announced on Monday an articulated plan of which Conte and the regional governments were discussing the last details on Tuesday.

Red, orange and green

In the midst of an evident deterioration of the political climate, the regions with governments of the right-wing opposition

as was the first, although it was very successful, due to the negative consequences for economic activity, which plummeted in 10% the production of national wealth in 2020.

Italy has been divided into three large areas –red, orange and green-, according to their level of risk.

In the red area are Lombardy (Milan), Piedmont (Turin) and Calabria, which have the highest RT indices, of contagion, of all.

Protests against the government in Venice.

Photo: Reuters

We must also add at least the alpine region of Trentino Alto Adige, which anticipated the general measures declaring a curfew from eight at night to five in the morning and ordered to isolate five cities, including the capital Bolzano, due to to the spread of the virus.

Elementary schools and open industries

In the

, museums and recreational centers, shopping centers are closed on weekends and it is arranged to extend

the DAD (Distance Learning)

to all students

, so that they stay at home.

The measures

the closure of a part of the industries.

Italy is the second largest manufacturing country in Europe, after Germany.

In the first phase the tough decision was applied to the so-called “non-essential industries”.

The objective was to increase the immobility of the population.

The question is rethought because the government decided to reduce the capacity of public transport from 80% to 50%, for which it needs fewer people to take it.

It will be the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, who, based on 21 points of a plan developed by the scientists who advise the government, will decide at what level of red, orange or green each region is located.

The largest amount will be in the orange area, where the regions that lost the virtuous level of 1 in October, which indicates normality (an infected person infects no more than one person), range between 1.3 and 1.7.

More demonstrations in Brescia.

Photo: EFE

The measures in the orange area will also be restrictive, but less rigid than among those with the red area.

Very few regions are located on the green level, such as Basilicata and Molise, which register a contagion index of less than 1.

The Deputy Minister of Health, Sandra Zampa, said that the measures are not intended to paralyze the country with strict confinement, but to apply a model inspired by Germany, which is based on the division by areas.

The orders of doctors from Milan and Turin urgently demanded a strong and effective quarantine.

Carlo Rossi, president of the Milanese doctors, said that the danger of saturating the reception capacity of hospitals in intensive care and among Covid patients with less severe symptoms is great.

Some regions have already requested help, such as Calabria and Campania (Naples), due to the enormous number of infected people who are added every day to achieve hospitalization, especially in southern Italy.

Rossi said that "we will not resist much longer, if the number of daily infected continues to grow, which now amounts to more than 30 thousand."

Rome, correspondent

ap

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