Covid cases in Italy are rising again, and experts suspect that it may be because of Omicron 5: how widespread is it in Italy today
By: VirgilioNotizie | Posted on:
The Covid-19 pandemic, in this first half of 2022, has undergone a progressive attenuation thanks to the very high percentages of the population vaccinated in Italy. But in the last week i cases have returned to riseand as demonstrated by the weekly monitoring just published, the incidence is also higher than in the previous survey.
The latest monitoring by ISS and the Ministry of Health
The weekly monitoring coordinated by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità and the Ministry of Health, in the period between 3 and 9 June, observed an incidence or equal to 222 per 100,000 inhabitantscompared to 207 per 100,000 inhabitants the week before.
In the period 18 – 31 May 2022, on the other hand, the average Rt index calculated on symptomatic cases is 0.75, down from the previous week when it was 0.82.
The president of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità Silvio Brusaferro
Because cases are starting to rise again
With the arrival of the hot season, as has been observed in recent years, the circulation of the virus tends to remain contained. Yet the increase in infections observed this week would seem to contradict this rule of thumb, right on the verge of the elimination of the latest restrictions scheduled for June 15.
But why the cases have started to rise again, despite the end of the state of emergency and the easing of almost all anti-contagion measures had hinted at a period of tranquility? The answer is probably due to the variant Omicron 5.
The role of Omicron 5, how widespread it is in Italy
Although Omicron 5 is not there yet dominant variant in Italy, its progressive increase may already have conditioned the epidemiological curve.
But how widespread it is Omicron 5 in Italy today? At the moment it is not possible to know exactly, as in these days a new flash survey by the Istituto Superiore di Sanità and the Ministry of Health will be launched, the results of which will be published no earlier than mid-June.
But according to the Ceinge-Biotecnologie di Napoli Omicron 5 would already be al 13% and is therefore destined to quickly replace Omicron 2, which is still dominant today.
At Sole 24 Ore, the geneticist Massimo Zollo, coordinator of the Covid-19 Task Force of Ceinge and of the Federico II University of Naples, did not exclude that the new sub-variants may cause new pandemic wavesas “the virus tries to attach itself to the cells more efficiently”.
Photo source: ANSA