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Italian soldiers and law enforcement officers carry out controls in Sesto San Giovanni, near Milan
Italian soldiers and law enforcement officers carry out controls in Sesto San Giovanni, near Milan, during the country’s coronavirus lockdown, which has been extended until 13 April. Photograph: Sergio Pontoriero/EPA
Italian soldiers and law enforcement officers carry out controls in Sesto San Giovanni, near Milan, during the country’s coronavirus lockdown, which has been extended until 13 April. Photograph: Sergio Pontoriero/EPA

Italy records lowest coronavirus death toll for a week

This article is more than 3 years old

Minister extends lockdown, saying drastic measures are yielding results

Italy has extended its lockdown until 13 April but recorded its lowest death toll in more than a week, reinforcing indications that the coronavirus epidemic both there and in Spain may be reaching a plateau.

“Experts say we are on the right track and the drastic measures we have taken are starting to yield results,” said the health minister, Roberto Speranza. He warned, though, that it would be “unforgivable to assume this was a definitive defeat” of Covid-19 and it would be “a long battle”.

Italy’s civil protection authority announced on Wednesday that the country’s tally – already the highest in the world – had climbed by 727 deaths to 13,155, and that the number of confirmed infections, including deaths, recovered and current cases, had risen by 4,782, taking the total to 110,574.

But the daily rise in the number of deaths was sharply down on Tuesday’s figure of 837, and the 2,937 new active cases represented an increase of 3.8% – more than the previous day, but confirming a declining trend. Two weeks ago, infections were rising at between three and four times that rate.

“The curve tells us that we’re at a plateau,” Silvio Brusaferro, the president of Italy’s Higher Health Institute (ISS), said earlier on Wednesday. “That doesn’t mean we’ve hit the peak and that it’s over, but that we must start the descent … by applying the measures in force.”

Italy graph

According to the Johns Hopkins University tracker, the pandemic has infected more than 870,000 people worldwide and killed more than 43,000. Nearly half the world’s population are living under some form of requested or mandatory confinement.

While China, where the outbreak originated, continues to report almost no domestic transmissions, a US intelligence report to the White House suggested Beijing was underreporting the numbers of both total cases and deaths the country has suffered.

Three unnamed security officials told Bloomberg the secret report alleged that China’s reporting of virus data was intentionally incomplete, and two of them said the report concluded that China’s numbers were fake. Deborah Birx, the state department immunologist advising the White House, said on Tuesday she thought that “probably we were missing a significant amount of the data, now that what we see happened to Italy and see what happened to Spain”.

Spain, which crossed the threshold of 100,000 confirmed cases on Wednesday and reported another record single-day death toll of 864, is now following a similar pattern to Italy, with officials saying on Wednesday they were starting to see a “trend change”. The two countries have the highest global death tolls in the pandemic.

Between 15 and 25 March, new cases in Spain were growing at a rate of 20% a day. From 25 March, that rate dropped to 12% and lower. María José Sierra of Spain’s centre for health emergencies said the latest figures indicated the increase in new cases was continuing to level out.

“Generally speaking, we can say that yesterday’s rise in cases, which was around 8%, tells us that we’re carrying on in the stabilisation phase of the pandemic,” Sierra told a press conference.

In the US, meanwhile, deaths from the coronavirus topped 1,000 in New York City as authorities warned that the worst was yet to come, while Florida officials were locked in a standoff with two cruise ships steaming toward the coast.

In California, the number of people being taken to hospital nearly doubled over the past four days and the number of intensive care patients tripled. US deaths, which have exceeded those in China, could reach 240,000, according to the White House, with Donald Trump warning the country should expect a “very, very painful two weeks”.

In other developments:

  • France reported 509 deaths on Wednesday, its highest daily number since the epidemic began, bringing the toll to 4,032. The number of confirmed cases rose by 4,861 to 56,989.

  • A specially adapted TGV train evacuated 36 patients from Paris to Brittany. France has 5,565 coronavirus patients in intensive care and greater Paris is nearing capacity.

  • South Korea has received requests from 121 countries for help with coronavirus testing, its foreign ministry said.

  • The heads of three global agencies warned of the risk of a worldwide food shortage if authorities failed to manage the crisis properly.

  • Vladimir Putin is handling duties remotely after meeting a doctor who has since been diagnosed with the virus as Moscow rolled out an app and scannable barcodes to check whether people were obeying isolation rules.

  • Saudi Arabia urged Muslims to wait before making hajj plans until there is more clarity about the pandemic.

  • Japan, which reported 2,200 confirmed cases and 66 deaths, remains on the brink of a state of emergency as the rate of infections rises, officials said.

  • The death toll in Iran has reached 3,036, with 47,593 confirmed infections.

As equipment shortages continue to hamper Europe’s response to the pandemic, France, which on Tuesday announced 499 new deaths, its biggest increase since the start of the pandemic, said it would invest €4bn (£3.5bn) in “strategic” health products including masks and respirators, with the aim of making the country “fully and completely self-sufficient” by the end of this year.

“We have to produce in France, on our territory, from now on,” said the president, Emmanuel Macron. “Certain products and certain materials have a strategic importance and we need Europe to be independent to reduce our dependence. The day after the epidemic will not be like the day before; we must rebuild our national and European sovereignty.”

Germany’s chancellor, Angela Merkel, said physical distancing measures would be maintained until 19 April and re-evaluated after Easter. Speaking after a telephone conference with the premiers of Germany’s 16 states, which have registered 71,000 cases and 775 deaths, Merkel said it was too soon to talk about easing them.

The chancellor’s caution comes amid a growing sense that the relatively stable situation in German hospitals could be about to become a lot more serious as the virus moves on to the elderly population. Reports from around the country suggest several outbreaks in care homes for elderly people.

More on this story

More on this story

  • Italy announces inquiry into its handling of Covid-19 pandemic

  • Ex-Italian prime minister and health minister cleared of Covid culpability

  • Revealed: Italian leaders tried to protect country’s image at start of pandemic

  • Former Italian PM Giuseppe Conte faces investigation over Covid response

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