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ITALY COULD SOON RETURN a record no nation wants, the highest number of coronavirus deaths in Europe, amid claims that the healthcare system has failed to protect the elderly and that the government has delayed imposing new restrictions.
Italy was the first country in the West to be affected by Covid-19 in early 2020, but after suffering a huge wave of deaths in the spring, it finally managed to get infections under control.
It had the benefit of time and experience heading into the fall resurgence because it was behind Spain, France and Germany in registering large new groups of infections.
However, the virus spread rapidly and widely, and Italy has recorded 28,000 more deaths since September 1.
This week, it reported a pandemic record of 993 deaths in one day.
Italy added another 761 deaths yesterday, bringing its official total to 63,387.
That’s just shy of the 63,603 deaths that have taken place in the UK, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Both numbers are believed to greatly underestimate the true cost, due to undetected infections, limited testing, and different counting criteria.
Guido Rasi, former executive director of the European Pharmaceutical Agency, said: “Obviously, some thought is needed. This number of almost 1,000 deaths in 24 hours is much higher than the European average ”.
Italy could soon overtake Britain despite having six million fewer citizens, and then it would only be behind the United States, Brazil, India and Mexico.
A funeral that takes place in Montepagano, central Italy.
Source: PA
By Hopkins’ count, Italy also has the highest number of deaths per 100,000 inhabitants among the worst affected countries.
Public health officials argue that Italy has the second oldest population in the world after Japan, and the elderly are the most vulnerable to the virus.
The average age of Italian victims is around 80 years.
Furthermore, 65% of those killed by Covid-19 in Italy had three or more health problems before testing positive, such as hypertension or diabetes, according to the Higher Institute of Health of Italy.
But Germany has a similarly old demographic, and yet its death toll is one-third that of Italy despite its larger population of 83 million.
Germany recorded its highest daily death toll from coronavirus on Friday (598) and has seen 21,000 deaths overall.
Analysts point to Germany’s higher long-term health spending per capita, which has resulted in increased ICU capacity, better testing and tracking capabilities and higher ratios of doctors and nurses per population.
But Germany also imposed a lockdown earlier this fall and is now ready to tighten it.
‘Act before’
A medical worker wearing PPE with a ventilator in Italy.
Source: SIPA USA / PA Images
Matteo Villa, a researcher at the Institute of International Political Studies in Milan, said: “If you can act earlier, even a little lighter on the measures, they work better than acting tough a little later or too late.
Italy, he said, waited too long after infections began to rise in September and October to impose restrictions and did not sufficiently beef up its medical system during the summer lull.
“If you look at France and the UK, you can see that Italy fared much worse,” he said.
And if you look at a comparable population with similar demographics, which is Germany, Italy did a lot worse.
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Doctors have blamed systemic problems in Italy’s healthcare system, especially in the worst-hit Lombardy, for not responding adequately.
Almost 80,000 Italian health workers have been infected and 255 doctors have died.
Dr. Filippo Anelli, director of the country’s doctors association, said: “We requested a closure in early November because the situation inside the hospitals was already difficult.
“We saw it work in the spring and it allowed us to get out from under Covid. If this had been done, the numbers would probably be going down today. “
But the Italian government resisted re-imposing a nationwide lockdown, knowing the devastating impact on an economy that was only just beginning to revive after the close of spring.
Instead, on November 3, the government divided the country into three risk zones with different restrictions.
But by then infections had doubled every week for nearly a month and hospitals were already overwhelmed in Milan and Naples.
Italy also entered the pandemic poorly prepared, with fewer ICU beds than the average for developed countries.
In recent weeks, investigative news reports have noted that Italy had not updated its influenza pandemic preparedness plan since 2006, which could help explain its severe shortage of protective equipment early on and its initial chaotic response. to the pandemic.
A report by the World Health Organization, which was published but later removed from the WHO website, noted that Italy’s plan for 2006 was simply “reconfirmed in 2017” without being updated.
The report said the plan was “more theoretical than practical” and when Covid-19 struck, chaos ensued.
“Unprepared for an onslaught of seriously ill patients, the initial reaction of the hospitals was improvised, chaotic and creative,” the report says.
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