The country recorded more than 7 thousand infections this Wednesday
Italy recorded this Wednesday (14) the highest number of new cases of the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus in a single day since the beginning of the pandemic.
According to an updated bulletin from the Ministry of Health, 7.332 positive diagnoses were confirmed in 24 hours, surpassing the 6.557 recorded on March 21, when the country was going through the peak of the health crisis.
The difference between the two moments is the lethality of Sars-CoV-2: on March 21, Italy had 793 deaths caused by the virus, compared to 43 this Wednesday. Still, this is the highest number of deaths for a single day since June 20, when 49 victims were recorded.
According to the Ministry of Health, the country now has 372.799 cases and 36.289 deaths since the start of the pandemic. In just 14 days, Italy already has 57.943 infections in October and exceeds the totals for the months of May (27.556), June (7.811), July (6.997), August (21.702) and September (45.622). March and April had 104.664 and 99.671 positive diagnoses, respectively.
The growth in infections, however, can also be explained by the improvement in the processing capacity of molecular tests for Sars-CoV-2, the so-called RT-PCR. According to the Ministry of Health, 152.196 tests were completed this Wednesday, a record number, compared to 26.336 on March 21.
Moving Averages
This Wednesday's balance saw the seven-day moving average of cases rise to 5.552, a figure 215% higher than that recorded two weeks ago. It is also the highest index since March 28 (5.556) – the peak occurred two days earlier, with 5.643.
The moving average of deaths rose to 33, an increase of 68% compared to 14 days ago. This is the highest number since June 24, with 37, but it is still far from the average of 814 deaths recorded on April 2, a record so far.
The country also has 244.065 cured patients and 92.445 active cases, the highest number since May 5 (98.467), even before the end of the lockdown. Of the total number of people with active contagion, 539 are hospitalized in ICUs, 25 more than on Tuesday.
Lockdown
With the arrival of the second wave of the pandemic, the debate about a possible reestablishment of the lockdown in Italy, which was already in national quarantine from March 10th to May 18th, begins to gain strength.
The government, so far, has ruled out the possibility of instituting a new lockdown, but has already made it clear that possible restrictive measures will depend on the evolution of the epidemiological curve and the behavior of citizens.
One of the country's most renowned virologists, Andrea Crisanti, proposed this Wednesday the institution of a lockdown during Christmas. This would help flatten the transmission curve in a period of intense movement of people, but it would also be a new blow to the already struggling tourism and commerce industries.
“I believe that a lockdown at Christmas is the order of the day. We could restart the system, reduce transmission of the virus and increase contact tracing,” explained Crisanti, professor at the University of Padua.
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