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A judicial investigation is being carried out to find out if Italy had a pandemic plan when it was hit by the coronavirus pandemic: that is, if in the years prior to 2020 a document had been prepared indicating the health strategy to adopt in the event of a pandemic and when it was last updated. The objective of the magistrates is to reconstruct the responsibilities and decisions made in the management of the epidemic, especially in its initial phase. “It is important for the assessments that the prosecutor is making as part of the investigation into the Alzano hospital and the management of the epidemic in the Bergamo area,” Antonio Chiappani, head of the Bergamo prosecutor’s office, told ANSA.
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The investigation was opened by the Bergamo Prosecutor’s Office, where the coronavirus caused 6,000 deaths during the so-called first wave, and it is developing in different directions, as the investigators have defined three broad accusations: guilty epidemic, homicide and false. The magistrates focused in particular on two events: the closure and reopening of the Alzano Lombardo hospital, on February 23, after the confirmed positivity of two patients; the lack of establishment of the so-called “red zone” in the municipalities of Alzano Lombardo and Nembro, during the first week of March. To understand how to judge the behavior of the people involved and therefore what the possible criminal responsibilities are, it is important to understand if there were procedures to be followed and therefore if there was a national plan against the pandemic.
From what has emerged thus far, it would appear that Italy had a pandemic plan but had not updated it since 2006, as subsequent updates, including the last one in 2017, had not made substantial changes. But it is an intricate story, also because you see the WHO involvement and a document posted online and then deleted after twenty-four hours; according to some, right after the pressure exerted by whoever should have updated the antipanddemic plan. Let’s start from the beginning.
The entrance to the hospital of Alzano Lombardo (Claudio Furlan – LaPresse)
On May 13, the WHO published an online document titled ‘An Unprecedented Challenge. Italy’s first response to Covid ». The study highlighted both good practices and mistakes made by Italy, the first Western nation to be massively affected by the coronavirus. “Unprepared for an onslaught of seriously ill patients, the initial reaction from hospitals was improvised, chaotic and creative,” he says. “It took some time for a formal guide to be available.” The study also argued that the most recent Italian pandemic plan, that of 2017, was essentially the same plan as in 2006. “In 2006, after the first epidemic of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), the Ministry of Health and the regions approved a national pandemic influenza preparedness plan and response plan, reconfirmed in 2017, with guidelines for regional plans. “
In May also the transmission Report He said the pandemic plan posted on the Ministry of Health website was the same as in 2006, without any substantial updates or changes: in fact, only the date was updated every year. Interviewed on December 9, Corriere della Sera, Bergamo Chief Prosecutor Antonio Chiappani confirmed that there is a pandemic plan “from 2017 regarding influenza”, and that “in fact, many parts are identical” to the 2006 plan.
– Read also: The investigation of the disappeared “red zone” in Val Seriana
But this story also has an extra twist. The WHO study, in fact, stayed online for only 24 hours before being removed (it is still available at this link, thanks to Internet Archive). Second Report Ranieri Guerra, now deputy director of the WHO and a member of the Scientific Technical Committee faced by the Italian government, would have played a major role in removing the study from the WHO website. Report in fact, he published an email, attributed to Guerra, requesting changes to the text of the study to remove references to the 2006 pandemic plan. Report, “One of those responsible who should have updated the pandemic plan was Ranieri Guerra, who between 2014 and 2017 was Director of Prevention of the Ministry of Health.” On Thursday, November 5, Guerra was heard by the magistrates of Bergamo, but the record was kept secret.
The European division of the WHO published a note in which it explained that the study was removed from the site “because it contained inaccuracies and inconsistencies.” “We understand that the publication and subsequent removal of the report has caused confusion and we have updated our publication procedures accordingly,” he added. However, the role of WHO in this story is also up for discussion. In fact, three times in the last month, the Bergamo prosecutor has summoned eleven researchers from the WHO European office in Venice, the authors of the study published and later removed from the WHO website. In vain: the WHO has invoked diplomatic immunity for its investigators, despite the fact that the magistrates asked to hear them only as persons informed of the facts.
Among those summoned is Francesco Zambon, coordinator at the Venetian headquarters of the WHO. In an interview with Messenger of the Veneto A few days ago, Zambon said that “the situation is delicate” and that he did not know how long he would have been in his position, in the Venice office. “These days I am also waiting for the date of the third call from the Bergamo prosecutor,” he said. “I could not answer the first two because the WHO invoked the diplomatic immunity of its officials and told me not to appear.” Above all, Zambon added that he had “received pressure and threats of dismissal to modify the report and write that the pandemic plan dates back to 2016 and not 2006, as it is.”
According to Bergamo Messenger, the prosecutor is considering the possibility of an omission of official acts by the Ministry of Health. “We will determine who had to fix it and why it was not done. If we believe that the investigations should be carried out in Rome, those magistrates will decide how to proceed, ”said Attorney General Chiappani. The prosecutor in Rome, in fact, is competent for the decisions of the ministries.
– Read also: The Scientific Technical Committee proposed the “red zone” for Nembro and Alzano Lombardo
The government claims that there is nothing in particular to see. During transmission Clean slate On December 3, Health Minister Roberto Speranza spoke of a “pointless controversy.” “I have seen the document and it does not speak negatively of Italy in any way,” Speranza said, adding however that “the WHO will have to clarify.” Speranza’s deputy, Pierpaolo Sileri, said that “Italy was not really prepared to face an epidemic like the coronavirus. It is true that the anti-pandemic plan was too old, I think that some explanation must be given from this point of view.
The removal of the pandemic plan from the WHO site had also led to a complaint filed by the committee “We will denounce – Truth and justice for the victims of Covid-19”, which includes the families of people who died from coronavirus. In recent months, the committee has filed hundreds of complaints and grievances.
Speakers of the “Denunciamos” committee at the Bergamo Prosecutor’s Office to present the complaints (Claudio Furlan – LaPresse)
The Bergamo prosecutor has collected thousands of documents and dozens of important testimonies to reconstruct what happened in the province of Bergamo: it is difficult, however, to understand where the investigation will lead, that is, whether it will continue to be a Bergamo case or will national. At the moment there are five suspects: Francesco Locati, the director of Asst (Territorial Social and Health Company) of Seriate, Roberto Cosentina, former director of health of the same Asst, replaced at the end of August, Luigi Cajazzo, former general director of Welfare of the region from Lombardy his deputy Marco Salmoiraghi and Aida Andreassi, manager of the Organizational Unit of the Hospital Pole.
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