In the last 24 hours in Italy, 56,166 new cases of coronavirus and 75 deaths have been recorded. With 248,042 swabs performed, the positivity rate rises to 22.6%. The hospitalized with symptoms are 5,064, +117 since yesterday. ICU patients are stable at 216.
The current positives are 652,572, so 27,559 more in the last 24 hours. A total of 18,071,634 Italians have been infected since the beginning of the pandemic, while the deaths rise to 167,967. The discharged and healed are 17,251,095, with an increase of 29,798.
Gimbe: surge in infections, up 58.9% in a week
The monitoring of the Gimbe Foundation reveals from 15 to 21 June, “an increase in new cases (255,442) in all Italian regions: + 58.9% in 7 days”. There was also an increase in ordinary hospitalizations (+ 14.4%) and in intensive care (+ 12.6%) but deaths dropped (-19%).
“We are witnessing a sharp surge in new weekly cases (+ 58.9% compared to the previous week) – he says Nino CartabellottaPresident of the Foundation – which amounted to around 255,000 with a 7-day moving average that exceeds 36,000 cases per day “.
According to the report, in the week 15-21 June the percentage increase of new cases is recorded in all Regions: from + 31.3% in Valle D’Aosta to + 91.5% in Friuli-Venezia Giulia.
“The progressive diffusion of the BA.4 and BA.5 variants has contributed to a clear recovery of viral circulation throughout the country with already evident effects also on hospitals: in particular, in the medical area where in 10 days there is an increase of over 700 beds occupied by Covid patients “.
“On the hospital front – he says Marco Mostioperational director of the Gimbe Foundation – the increase in new cases has led to a reversal of the trend in hospitalizations both in the medical area (+ 14.4%) and in intensive care (+ 12.6%) “.
In particular, in the critical area, from the minimum of 183 on 12 June, the number of beds occupied rose to 206 on 21 June; in the medical area, on the other hand, after hitting a low of 4,076 on 11 June, they rose to 4,803 on 21 June. The national employment rate is 7.5% in the medical area (from 3.6% in Piedmont to 17.2% in Umbria and Sicily) and 2.2% in the critical area (from 0% in Basilicata and the Autonomous Province of Trento to 7.7% of the Aosta Valley).
Istat: over 105 resistant to Covid. No increase in deaths
In 2020, a year marked by the Covid 19 pandemic, there was no increase in deaths in the population aged 105 and over, unlike the other age groups of the elderly. This is what Istat notes. Analyzing the probability of death of this sub-population from 2009 to 2020 (deaths / resident population as of 1 January, per 100), it can be seen that the value for 2020 is in line with that of past years: about 66 deaths per 100 individuals.
The differences with the rest of the population are likely related to the fact that those 105 and older are part of a genetically selected, more resistant population. In addition, almost 9 out of 10 of these people live ‘protected’ in the family, while 12% reside in a cohabitation.
Bassetti: bivalent vaccines are coming, updated for the variants
“Moderna announced that a new vaccine against Omicron 5 will be available worldwide from August,” he writes on Facebook Matteo Bassetti, infectious disease specialist of San Martino di Genova. “Preliminary data show a potent neutralizing antibody response against the Omicron BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants.”
“The new data will be sent to the regulatory authorities for approval. We will therefore have bivalent vaccines capable of producing antibodies against the original virus and against the Omicron variants. Now we just have to think about how to organize the vaccine booster, to be done in September / October and to whom to use it. Surely to the elderly, the frail, health workers and all the others who decide to do so “.
Ecdc, Italy is back in dark red
Italy turns dark red again, the highest risk band in the color map of the ECDC (European Center for Disease Prevention and Control), which is processed on the basis of the new cases of Covid-19 recorded in the last few 14 days per 100 thousand inhabitants and the positive rate between the tests carried out, weighted by the vaccination rate of the population.
According to the latest update, Piedmont, Trentino and Valle d’Aosta remain in light red. Expanding the lens to Europe, France, Portugal, Iceland and parts of Austria and Greece are in dark red.
Andreoni: “We could reach 100 thousand infections”
“The increase in infections was inevitable and expected. It is true that today we are dealing with a virus with a reduced pathogenicity, but it has a very high capacity to spread” he says. Massimo Andreoni, head of infectious disease at the Tor Vergata Polyclinic in Rome and scientific director of the Italian Society of Infectious and Tropical Diseases (Simit). On the risk that we will soon reach 100 thousand cases a day: “It is very likely with this circulation and with less attention to contrast measures”.
Regarding the increase in hospital admissions, Andreoni specifies that “it is not only frail elderly people who end up in hospital for Covid, clearly today those most at risk with Omicron 5, but also young people.
Sometimes the disease can have a particularly virulent course, you can have a high fever. Here – he explains – why we still have to be cautious “.
Pregnancy: Mothers’ vaccine also protects babies
Vaccination during pregnancy, especially in the second 20 weeks, also protects the unborn child and drastically reduces the risk of hospitalization should the child fall ill with Covid in the very first months of life. The confirmation comes from a new study coordinated by the American Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
The research analyzed the data of 537 children under 6 months hospitalized for Covid and 512 hospitalized for other causes, investigating the vaccination status of the mother. On average, the researchers measured a 52% effectiveness of vaccination in preventing hospitalization and 70% in avoiding intensive care.
However, the study found a sharp decline in vaccination efficacy with the advent of the Omicron variant compared to Delta’s circulation period. In particular, with Delta, vaccination was 88% effective when given after the twentieth week and 68% when given before this period (with an average of 80%). With Omicron the values drop to 57% and 25% respectively (average 38%).
Although protection against Omicron is low, the researchers warn that children this young represent “a group for which vaccines are likely not to be licensed in the foreseeable future,” so any additional protection should not be underestimated. Furthermore, the study considered women vaccinated with only two doses: as observed in the general population, the booster dose is likely to raise the level of protection even in the youngest ones.