Italy Daily Death Toll Rises, But New Cases Drop Sharply

An employee wearing protective gear, working for environmental services company AMSA, sprays disinfectant on Piazza Duomo in Milan, on March 31, 2020 during the country's lockdown aimed at curbing the spread of the COVID-19 infection, caused by the novel coronavirus. (Piero Cruciatti/AFP via Getty Images)

In Italy, the COVID-19 daily death toll—a closely watched indicator of how the outbreak might be receding—rose again today, but new cases fell sharply.

At 636, the death toll in Italy is still far short of the highest tally of 971 recorded a week ago, suggesting that the peak has passed. But deaths are up more than 100 from the previous daily number of 525.

Meanwhile, underscoring the notion that the outbreak is losing momentum, the total number of new cases dropped to the lowest level in two weeks.

Italy currently has the highest death toll anywhere in the world, if China’s much-maligned official statics are to be believed.

The total number of confirmed cases in Italy of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus, commonly referred to as the novel coronavirus, rose by just 3,599 to 132,547, marking the lowest rise since March 17.

According to Reuters, the number of people in intensive care also dropped for the third day in a row.

Italy was one of the first major hot spots for the virus outside of China, as COVID-19 began to gain a foothold in Europe.

Italy began a nationwide lockdown on March 9, which will currently expire by law on April 13. That end date, however, does not mark the point at which officials believe the lockdown will end—it’s just as far as lawmakers wanted to extend it for the meantime.

Officials have indicated that they have no plans to lift the lockdown by any particular date, despite initially indicating that it might be lifted in mid-May.

Male nurses wearing a face mask and overalls bring a patient on a stretcher into the newly built Columbus Covid 2 temporary hospital to fight the new coronavirus infection at the Gemelli hospital in Rome on March 16, 2020. (Andreas Solaro/AFP via Getty Images)

Italy’s worst-hit region is Lombardy, in the northeast of the country.

Authorities in the region, which is home to the capital, Milan, have begun testing health workers for antibodies that may help identify individuals with immunity, reported Reuters.

Lombardy authorities have also now ordered anyone outside to cover their nose and mouth using home-made or improvised masks.

Interest in the use of face coverings to block the spread of the virus has grown after initially being dismissed by the majority of health advisers in Europe and America who initially said masks were only useful to frontline medical staff.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday recommended that all Americans should start to wear cloth face coverings in public settings.

The CDC’s recommendation came on the heels of new evidence that COVID-19 can be spread by people before they display symptoms. The wearing of the face covering is not to protect the wearer, but to stop them inadvertently spreading the virus before they know they have it.

Setting aside China, where experts say reliable information cannot be obtained, Spain today overtook Italy with the highest number of CCP virus deaths per-capita in the world.

Spain now has a death toll of 265 per million, a little higher than Italy’s 262. The United States, where the total death toll has exceeded 10,000, currently has a per-capita death toll of 29 per million.

In contrast, the official death toll in China, which is a couple of months further down the track, is just 2 per million. Numerous reports, including leaked documents, statistical analysis, and anecdotal reports from inside China, suggest that the official data is far from accurate.

Reuters contributed to this report