Boom of covid infections in Italy: 95 thousand cases a day and warn of serious images of Delta

Italy risks new quarantines due to the boom in contagion with the Ómicron 5 variant which this Wednesday reached 94,165 people. It’s about the virus more contagious at all since the beginning of the pandemic, which pierces the summer and also the same vaccines.

Scientists fear that the surge since the start of the pandemic will lead to overcoming the total in July two million newly infected. Symptoms of Omicron 5 are milder, but labs record that a minority of infections come from older variants, such as the Deltawhich cause a double fatal pneumonia.

The deaths this Wednesday were 60 and Tuesday 69 with 83,555 infected. In the first two weeks of July the total will exceed 170,000 deaths, which were 168,294 on Wednesday. Italy is the second European country (in Great Britain there are 197 thousand) most affected by the pandemic.

Chinstrap again?

Some scientists fear that if the wave of infections continues to increase, steps will have to be taken to reintroduce face masks to public places and other measures. Even quarantines if there are local outbreaks to stop the spread of Omicron 5 with its unprecedented contagion capacity among Covid_19 variants.

Although most of those affected overcome mild symptoms of the disease, increase the number of colleges in hospitals, which on Wednesday reached 6,254 people (+219 in one day) in the common sectors and 248 in intensive care, an increase of eleven people in one day. employment levels they are very lowthey reach 3% of the available beds.

As quarantine rules require everyone to be isolated, fears are also spreading that the new wave of the virus it could seriously compromise the tourist seasonwhich shows a flood of millions of Italian and foreign travelers, after two meager years.

Currently the infected are 767 thousand who comply with the obligation of isolation, after having communicated their positivity to the virus. But it is calculated that the real number it is at least double and that with the peak of July the two million afflicted could collapse.

Omicron 5

Another feature of Ómicron 5 is that it also infects the vaccinated and convalescents of the disease, which until now do not contract the virus thanks to their natural defenses.

The mildness of the symptoms and the rapid period from one week to ten days until a control declares the patient negative for the virus, alleviates a situation that would be very serious with the old variants of Covid_19 which attacked the lungs.

The government is in trouble for the success of the summer season which lifts everyone’s spirits makes it difficult to take drastic measures. Some estimates indicate that in August the pandemic curve will decrease.

Undersecretary for Public Health Andrea Costa said that “we must spread positive messages to citizens, giving them a perspective of trust and hope”.

But the government’s first duty is to prevent the virus from increasing circulation with effective measures and the failure to contain the increase in positives could generate an anticipation of the autumn wave of the pandemic expected for September-October.

In the pharmacy, anti-inflammatory and antipyretic remedies like ibuprofen and acetaminophen are running out of shelves. Fever, fatigue, sore throat, muscle and joint pain are the mild symptoms of the variant Omicron BA5. Totally cortisones and contraindicated antibiotics.

super contagious

Professor Fabrizio Pregliasco, from the University of Milan, pointed out that the scariest thing about Omicron’s BA5 variant is its extreme contagion capacity.

“One person can infect 15 to 17,” he explains. The original variant called “Wuhan”, named after the Chinese city where the pandemic was born, has a level of contagion of 2.5 people and the Delta, which was considered the most contagious, reaches 7.

Pregliasco explains that the serious problems are projected beyond the summer, with the arrival of the first autumn colds. “It should start in September-October a new mass vaccination of the population, favoring the older children, the frail and the over-sixties.

At that point they must be in production effective vaccines against known variants, in particular BA4 and BA5 of Ómicron, meanwhile, those who have not done so, which are about 7 million Italians, should get vaccinated, and give new impetus to the fourth dose for the frail and over 80 years old.

So far only a minority of these categories are vaccinated. Is a mistake because vaccines protect more than against contagion from the disease and its most serious pathologies.

Professor Pregliasco explained that «we follow this virus because it is he who dictate the rules with its random variations, its instability, and it can give us further problems“.

“Difficult to make predictions. It currently has features typical of other respiratory infections, including influenza viruses, including pandemic ones. “

Pregliasco said the growth of the Micron 5 “is likely to be followed by a loss of bubbly in July and a new rise with a co-presence of some viral influences than in the southern hemisphere is displaying data for nothing exciting and it could be ‘bad’ when it rises in the northern hemisphere ”.

The scientist’s advice from the University of Milan is to prepare the defenses with the protection provided by vaccines. “An immune shield, if not from contagion, at least from serious pathology”.

Rome, correspondent

ap