In Italy in the last 24 hours there have been 8,355 new cases and 60 deaths. Yesterday there were 17,647 cases, last Monday 10,418. The swabs processed are 62,967 against 117,767 yesterday: the positivity rate from 15% therefore drops to 13.3%.
On the other hand, the deaths increased from yesterday to 41, for a total of 175,407 victims since the beginning of the pandemic.
Intensive care has remained unchanged (yesterday +2) with 15 admissions of the day, for a total of 229 people in intensive care, while ordinary hospitalizations are 3 more (yesterday -40) for a total of 5,631.
The discharged / healed in the last 24 hours are 19,417 (yesterday 20,287) for a total that rises to 20,970,685. The currently positive are 11,130 less (yesterday -2,681) and become 668,764, of which 662,904 in home isolation.
The region with the highest number of cases today is Lombardy with 1,042 infections, followed by Emilia Romagna (+1,024), Lazio (+819), Campania (+735) and Veneto (+689). The total number of cases since the beginning of the pandemic rises to 21,814,856. This is what emerges from the daily bulletin of the Ministry of Health.
Switzerland approves Moderna booster vaccine updated also for Omicron 1
The Moderna booster vaccine updated to cover the Omicron 1 variant, in addition to the original SarS-Cov-2 strain, has been approved in Switzerland by the Swissmedic regulatory body. It is the second country in Europe after the UK to authorize the Spikevax Bivalent Original / Omicron (mRNA-1273.214) * vaccine, which has been shown to produce higher concentrations of antibodies against Omicron than the vaccine currently available. .
The vaccine is given as a dose of 0.5 ml (50 micrograms) and contains 25 micrograms of mRna-1273 (the original Spikevax) and an additional 25 of mRNA targeted to the Omicron variant (BA.1). Studies have shown that it provides a stronger immune response than Moderna’s first vaccine against the BA.1 and BA.4 / 5 variants, while the protective effect against the original SarS-CoV-2 virus (Wuhan strain), measured in terms of antibody concentration, it is equivalent.
“The vaccine meets the requirements for safety, efficacy and quality,” Swissmedic writes in a statement. The evaluation of the specialists of the Swiss Institute for Therapeutic Products is also shared by the external scientific committee of experts Hmec (Human medicines expert committee). As for side effects, there are no major differences. The adverse reactions of the new bivalent vaccine are in fact comparable to those observed after the administration of the second or booster dose of the original vaccine.
Without a mask at school, many cases of flu but no alarmism
This year, after three years in which the use of anti-Covid measures has also kept the flu at bay, “this seasonal disease will return. There will no longer be a mask at school and it is clear that there may be many cases. But no alarmism, we are in the norm “. He points this out to beraking latest news Salute Massimo Ciccozzihead of the Medical Statistics and Epidemiology Unit of the Faculty of Medicine and Surgery of the Campus Bio-Medico of Rome.
The flu, adds the expert, “will arrive as always in autumn”, “we will have a peak between January and February”, it will be “heavier only because in these three years we have not seen it”, adds Ciccozzi, but “not even you can think of keeping the mask forever although, in my opinion, to defend against Covid, in closed and crowded places it is still useful “.
The important thing “is to get vaccinated. From this year we should get used to adding, annually, the anti-Covid vaccination to the classic flu shot. A fundamental measure especially for the elderly and the frail”, concludes Ciccozzi.