As a result of the lower number of tampons, 222 thousand compared to 403 thousand yesterday, the number of infections also dropped from 3,725 to 2,535, with the positivity rate growing however by decimals to 1.1%. There are also 30 deaths and 106 more hospitalized in medical departments, even if there are 3 fewer in intensive care.
The new positives in Piedmont fell from 160 to 105, where the positivity rate also halved from 0.4 to 0.2%. There was a sharp drop from 393 to 119 in cases also in Lombardy, where the positivity rate loses one decimal point and stops at 3.6%.
There are 220 Covid infections discovered with tampons in Veneto in the last 24 hours against 398 yesterday. A significantly lower figure than the trend of the last few days, due to less tracking activity over the weekend. There was no death. The bulletin of the Region reports it. The number of infected since the beginning of the epidemic rises to 477,495, that of victims remains stable at 11,815. Currently positive subjects are 9,418. (+139). Hospital admissions rose slightly: 204 (+4) patients in normal medical departments, 31, without changes, those in intensive care.
Cases halved from 148 to 71 in Friuli Venezia Giulia, where, however, the positivity rate drops just from 5.4 to 4.8%.
The new cases of Covid registered in the last 24 hours in Tuscany are 211 out of 11,246 tests, of which 4,952 molecular swabs and 6,294 rapid tests. The rate of new positives is 1.88% (5.6% on first diagnoses). Compared to yesterday, infections are decreasing (-69), however, in the face of a decidedly lower number of tampons and with an almost doubled positivity rate: in the previous report, cases were 280 out of 28,404 tests of which 1% was positive (3.4% on first diagnoses).
In Lazio, after days of growth, the number of infections fell from 459 to 386 in the 24 re, but the positivity rate from 1.7 goes back to 2.5%.
Today in Puglia there are 82 new cases of coronavirus out of 14,711 tests (incidence 0.55%) and zero deaths. Yesterday the new positives were 127. Of the 2,358 people currently positive in Puglia, 132 are hospitalized in a non-critical area and 18 in intensive care.
The Rt contagion index has exceeded 1: this is indicated by the Covindex values, the parameter that can be superimposed on the Rt index and updated on the basis of the ratio between new positive cases and swabs, calculated by the researchers who report to the CovidTrends site. The contagion index calculated by the CovidStat website, managed by experts from the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (Infn), is also equal to 1. “Now it is a question of whether the Covid-19 epidemic is recovering or not,” observes physicist Giorgio Sestili, founder of the Facebook page “Coronavirus-Scientific data and analysis”. There is probably “a double dynamic”, he added. «On the one hand, there is the great increase in rapid antigen tests linked to the Green pass, which means that more cases are found among the asymptomatic; on the other hand there could be the resumption of the epidemic that we see from the molecular tests ».
“The data to keep an eye on is good,” said Sestili, referring to the positivity rate below 1, the incidence which is around 30 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, and therefore below the critical threshold of 50 for contact tracing. “Furthermore, we do not see repercussions on hospitalizations, which have decreased in the last week, demonstrating that for the most part the cases are probably asymptomatic.” According to the expert, “the situation must be monitored carefully as it is likely that in the coming weeks we could see an increase in cases, considering the arrival of winter and the spread of the flu”. The physicist also noted that the virus is circulating a lot abroad where few vaccines have been made, such as in some Eastern European countries, or as in Great Britain, where third doses have not yet begun.
“In Italy – said Sestili – we can be cautiously optimistic because, even in the face of a resumption of infections, we should consider that we start from low epidemic numbers, that over 80% of the population is vaccinated, that we are started to administer third doses to the most fragile subjects and that there is the Green pass ».
“Today it is recommended for some categories, in particular the most fragile ones, but the third dose of the anti-Covid vaccine for the entire population is a likely scenario”, meanwhile the president of the Higher Institute of Health, Silvio Brusaferro reported today, ” We will continue to do as we have always done – he added – always monitoring the persistence of the immune response, and as there is evidence of the case, they will be declined from an organizational point of view », he concluded.
So far there have been 12,016 Covid patients in Italy treated with monoclonal antibodies, drugs intended for subjects at risk of progression to severe Covid-19 but with recent onset of the disease. In the last week, in particular, there were 554 prescription requests, equal to + 19% compared to the 465 of the previous week. This is highlighted by the 29th report of the Italian Medicines Agency (Aifa) relating to the period from 15 to 21 October.
Since the start of monitoring, the Veneto region has treated the most patients with these therapies, i.e. 2,022, followed by Lazio with 1,656 and Tuscany with 1,612. All the other regions are below 1,000 and Molise and the Autonomous Province of Bolzano remain in the last places, stopping at 16 and 3. Monoclonal antibodies have not yet received the approval of the European Medicines Agency (EMA) but in Italy they are were temporarily authorized by Decree of the Minister of Health in February 2021 and are available starting from March.