Italy reports 482 more coronavirus deaths – its lowest daily figure in nearly a month taking the country’s total to 23,227
- Deaths reported mark a drop from 575 reported on Friday and 525 on Thursday
- Number of new cases identified dropped by two from Friday to 3,491
- Italy’s coronavirus outbreak has continued to plateau following earlier peaks
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
Italy has reported 482 deaths from coronavirus, its lowest daily figure since April 12, as the country’s total rose to 23,227.
The country had reported 575 deaths on Friday and a further 525 deaths the day before. The number of new cases identified also dropped by two to 3,491.
This plateau is down considerably from peaks reached around the end of March, but the downtrend has not proceeded as was widely hoped.
Italy has been under lockdown longer than any other European country, after a nationwide quarantine was imposed on March 9.
Officials have spoken of a ‘phase two’ in which Italy learns to ‘live with the virus’ until a vaccine is developed, which is likely to be months away at least.
Lockdown measures been extended into May, but Italy is now hoping to use a smartphone app to held identify new outbreaks once the quarantine is lifted.
Coronavirus commissioner Domenico Arcuri signed a decree late on Thursday awarding the app contract to a Milan-based startup called Bending Spoons.
Arcuri’s decree states that free app must preserve users’ anonymity and not track location. Instead, it will use bluetooth to log the phone’s movements.
Italian Red Cross workers move a sealed stretcher into an ambulance at the infectious diseases ward of the Cannizzaro hospital in Catania on Thursday
The EU has recommended tracking apps as part of a plan unveiled on Wednesday to help countries ease restrictions.
Countries such as South Korea and Israel have used apps to help people determine whether they came close to someone infected with the virus.
However, technology experts warn that such apps are not foolproof because bluetooth signals work best in open spaces.
A handful of shops have been allowed to re-open already in Italy, including bookshops and stationery shops.
The region of Lombardy also plans to start conducting immunity tests next week in the hope of issuing ‘licences’ to people found to be resistant.
Doctors treat a patient in the intensive care department of the dell’Angelo hospital in Veniceon Thursday
Medical staff wearing full protective suits including masks and gloves work at the intensive care unit of Rome’s San Filippo Neri hospital on Wednesday
Lombardy has been by far the worst-affected region in Italy, piling up more cases and deaths than many countries have done.
Health care workers will be first in line for Lombardy’s antibody tests but the regional government hopes to expand the tests to the general public.
The provinces of Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona and Lodi will have particular priority after their health systems were overwhelmed by the crisis.
Nearly 17,000 health care workers have been infected with coronavirus in Italy, more than two-thirds of them women, the country’s public health institute said today.
The figure accounts for around 10 per cent of Italy’s officially registered infections.
The ISS public health institute did not report fatality figures, but a study released Thursday by a medical federation said that Covid-19 has killed 125 doctors in Italy.
Reports say that at least 34 nurses have also died of the disease.
Several Italian doctors have expressed fears that infected medics may have been unwittingly spreading the disease to their patients in the early weeks of the outbreak.
Immunity tests are seen as crucial to ending the global lockdown, but ministers in Britain and Germany have said they are not yet reliable enough.
UK health secretary Matt Hancock says that none of the 17.5million tests which Britain wanted to order have been shown to work.
‘We’re getting the test results through every day, I was looking at some last night. But we still don’t have any that are good enough,’ he said earlier this month.