Covid, Mattarella: “I cannot silence the concern about the increase in the rate of infections and the victims”

“I cannot silence the concern about the increase in the rate of pandemic contagion and the victims that we continue to register every day.” The day they checked in 2 thousand 844 new cases, a figure that has not been touched since the end of last April, the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella has decided to express its fear for the evolution of the pandemic and for the number of deaths that Italy is counting every day. The words of the head of state were pronounced at the opening of the concert in Quirinal in memory of Dante: not only has Mattarella turned a thought to the dead to bad weather, but he also wanted to expose himself to warn the country at a time when the new positives are growing again in a worrying way.

Half-day, the Prime Minister also issued an appeal to Italians to continue to respect security measures: “We managed to face the toughest phase” of the emergency, “but the threshold of attention must be high. We cannot afford to lower it. The sacrifices made would be dispersed in an instant if we did not always keep the threshold of attention high.“, He declared at the third Gran Sasso International Forum at the University of Teramo. “Sometimes, especially abroad, we speak emphatically of the Italian model” but if it is true that “we have faced the hardest part” of the pandemic, “we cannot rest on our laurels. If we do not all march together, with a sense of belonging and common destiny, if we do not regain cohesion we will not go anywhere ”.

And while the Regions are beginning to impose more restrictive measures, such as the obligation to wear masks even outdoors, the last in order of time are Puglia and Marche (but only in case of meetings) the Prime Minister prepare two new measures. The first will be a Dpcm that must be issued in days. The second refers the request for an extension of the state of emergency until January 31, 2021. Palazzo Chigi is evaluating many measures together with CTS experts, starting with the extension of the obligation to use personal protective equipment outdoors throughout the national territory. “There is this debate that has developed but no decision has yet been made,” clarifies the prime minister. Basically, if the situation of the epidemic curve had a rebound, also the possibility of closing all public places before midnight. The Ministry of the Interior, for its part, invites the prefects by means of a circular to adopt “all the initiatives within their competence to limit the risk of contagion.” A scenario in which the Minister of Regional Affairs, Francesco Boccia, excludes the possibility of a total blockade, but not the specific ones, the wave “must stop”. “We have always maintained a line of extreme caution and have been criticized for it. We expected the increase in infections and we said so. I still remember someone who accused us of wanting to alarm us to postpone the elections. Forget it, ”he told Repubblica. “We are not at the red light. But, ultimately, yellow has taken off ”.

Meanwhile, at night, the General Director of Prevention of the Ministry of Health Giovanni rezza, during his speech in the digital edition of the Bologna Medical Sciences Festival, spoke about the blockade: “We know how much it weighed on the economy of the country and the people and we are aware of the psychological repercussions, but the truth is that the virus is compromising the economy, not the confinement. We have seen it with the reopening of recreational activities, which for example determined the outbreaks of this summer in a region like Sardinia that had remained practically immune to contagions ”. Rezza also spoke about the situation in Italy: “We now see a small increase in cases growing back., a better situation than that of neighboring countries, but that to some extent is beginning to be a red flag. In Europe, Italy at the moment is one of the Pasei with a better situation than, for example, France and Spain in particular. The UK case curve is rising, even in the countries of Eastern Europe it is quite high, in short, there is a situation that undoubtedly must be kept under control ”.