Italy logs record 993 Covid deaths in 1 day

Italian health authorities on Thursday recorded 993 Covid-19 deaths, the highest daily toll since the pandemic began, reported EFE-EPA.

The health ministry said there had been another 23,225 infections in the same period.

More than a third of the deaths were reported in the northern region of Lombardy, one of the first areas of Europe to go into lockdown when the coronavirus surfaced there in February.

The update in figures means a total of 1.6 million people in Italy have been infected since the beginning of the pandemic and there have been over 58,000 deaths.

Despite the jump in deaths, the general infection trend in Italy is starting to flatten, while the pressure on hospitals and ICU has been declining.

Of the roughly 760,000 active cases in Italy, the vast majority are isolating at home with minor symptoms. Just over 35,000 coronavirus patients are receiving hospital treatment in Italy at the moment.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is due to announce new restrictions to be enforced over the Christmas holiday period.

The government is poised to inform citizens that travel outside their home municipality would be prohibited during Christmas and New Year in a bid to prevent mass family gatherings.

The new rules also prohibited inter-regional travel between 21 December and 6 January, according to a draft of the plan.

Secondary school students are set to return to classrooms on 7 January, although classroom sizes will be limited to half.

Domenico Arcuri, a government advisor on the pandemic, on Thursday gave details about Italy’s planned rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine. Italy is due to get 13,46% of the European Union’s pre-order.

He said that the whole of the country’s population will be vaccinated by the second and third quarter of 2021.