Another 969 deaths in Italy but 101-year-old recovers from Covid-19

The number of deaths and infections in Italy as a result of Covid-19 is skyrocketing. Another 969 people succumbed to the virus in the past 24 hours. But occasionally we also receive good news from the hard-hit country. About a 101-year-old man recovered from the new coronavirus and was allowed to leave the hospital on Thursday.

Coronavirus infections in Italy have not yet peaked. That’s what the head of the country’s national health institute said today. Yesterday, more than 6,150 people tested positive for the coronavirus. Another 969 people succumbed to the virus in the past 24 hours. “We have not reached the peak and have not yet got through it,” health care chief Silvio Brusaferro reported at a news conference.

However, Brusaferro said there were “signs of a slowdown” in the number of people infected, suggesting that the peak may not be far away. New cases will then show a visible downward trend. “When the decline begins depends on our behavior,” said Brusaferro, referring to how strictly Italians will continue to respect the movement restrictions imposed by the government.

Because the corona outbreak is still not under control, schools in the country will remain closed even after April 3. That was the date for a possible reopening. The schools will not open again until it is entirely sure that it is safe, the authorities said. All educational institutions closed in early March.

Politicians in Northern Italy are increasingly openly expressing doubts about the death rate from the new coronavirus. They suspect that the official figures are a strong underestimate.

Recovered wonderfully

‘Mr. P’ – the full name of the cured century-old is not known – was admitted to Rimini hospital in northeastern Italy last week after testing positive for the new coronavirus. The older man recovered wonderfully. On Thursday, he was declared cured, after which he was allowed to leave the clinic.

“His family brought him home yesterday,” said Gloria Lise, vice mayor of the coastal city of Rimini. “This truly extraordinary healing gives hope. It teaches us that even at the age of 101, the future is not yet written.”

Mr. P was born in 1919 when another pandemic – the Spanish flu – brought death and destruction to the world. This flu pandemic claimed an estimated 20 to 100 million lives worldwide. The Italian subsequently survived the First and Second World War, and now also the Covid-19 lung virus.

The virus outbreak particularly hard hits Italy. More than 8,200 deaths and more than 80,500 infections have been detected in the southern European country, according to recent figures from Johns Hopkins University.