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Rome, May 3 (IANS): As the national shutdown to combat the coronavirus pandemic is drawing to a close, Italy saw a decline in new infections on Saturday, according to the latest numbers released by the Department of Civil Protection.
The number of new infections was 1,900 in the past 24 hours, a decrease from Friday’s number, bringing the total number of infections, deaths and recoveries to 209,328, Xinhua reported.
There were 1,665 additional recoveries, bringing that total to 79,914.
The death toll on Saturday was 474, bringing the total to 28,710 since the pandemic erupted in the northern Lombardy region on February 21.
Of those infected, 1,539 are in intensive care (a decrease of 39 patients compared to Friday) and 17,357 are hospitalized with symptoms (a decrease of 212 patients). The rest, or 81 percent of those who tested positive, are isolated at home.
The national closure, which went into effect on March 10, will end on May 3.
Speaking at a nationally televised news conference earlier in the day, Coronavirus Extraordinary Commissioner for the Emergency, Domenico Arcuri, explained what lies ahead after the shutdown, in what the government has called Phase Two.
“We should all be aware that an even more difficult challenge begins on May 4,” said Arcuri.
He compared Phase Two to “the second half of a soccer game, and as we all understand by now, no one knows how long it will last or how it will end.”
“The relative freedom we are about to obtain must be in the service of protecting the health of all,” said Arcuri.
“We have distributed 26.7 million masks over the past week to regional authorities in Italy, with a total of 165.5 million masks distributed since the beginning of the emergency,” said the commissioner.
Arcuri added that in May there will be a distribution of 12 million masks per day, and that this number will increase to 18 million per day in June, 25 million in July-August and 30 million by the time schools open in September.
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