Italy Suffers Deadliest Day with 919 Deaths in Past 24 hours

Italy Suffers Deadliest Day with 919 Deaths in Past 24 hours

Italy has suffered its deadliest single day since the Covid-19 outbreak began. The government is now reporting that 919 people have died of the virus in the past 24 hours. 

"While the daily growth rate of diagnosed cases has fallen in Italy over the last week, local officials are fearful the number of cases is not close to peaking, with new cases rising in regions away from hotspots in the country’s north. The large southern region of Campania now has 1,454 cases and 98 deaths," reports the Financial Times.

This is a blow to Italy's effort to control the surge. Just yesterday the Wall Street Journal reported that Italy was hoping that the surge had flattened.

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"Doctors in Brescia, a northern Italian town at the center of the country’s coronavirus pandemic, have seen glimmers of hope in their battle against the disease in recent days.

The virus has killed about 1,000 people there and the number of infected admitted to its large hospital is beginning to fall, down by half to 50 a day, suggesting the extreme lockdown imposed on the population could be working.

But local officials believe the true number of those infected with the virus is perhaps six times the official figure of 7,000. And they are taking new steps: Those discharged from hospital but still positive for the virus are sent to temporary quarantine facilities for two weeks before returning home, a measure gradually being introduced elsewhere in the country," reported the Wall Street Journal.