Italy: Brescia sees new boost in COVID-19 infections

 

The Lombardy region of northern Italy, where the coronavirus broke out in Europe last year, asked the Italian government on Thursday to provide more vaccines to help curb the increase in new COVID-19 cases in the province of Brescia. 

 

The rapid increase in the number of cases in the province is driving a further increase in reported cases across the country.

 

Italy confirmed another 19,886 infections on Thursday, the highest daily number of infections since the beginning of January. Authorities have reported another 308 virus-related deaths, bringing the country’s official death toll in the pandemic to nearly 97,000. 

 

Brescia has a population of approximately 1.2 million people. The number of daily cases has increased from the mid-100s in early February to 901 on Wednesday and 973 weeks on Wednesday. This is caused by a variant that dates back to the United Kingdom. The doctor said that recently the number of COVID-19 patients hospitalized in major public hospitals has increased from an average of about 200 to 300. 

 

Lombardy Governor Attilio Fontana said on Thursday that he told the Italian Minister of Health that the region needs to “deliver (vaccine) immediately in areas where the virus is growing”. 

 

The deputy mayor of Brescia, Laura Castelletti said that as long as the vaccination progress is accelerated, residents are willing to accept the new lockdown measures, including the closure of all schools and daycare centers. She added: "If the vaccination campaign is conducted 24/7, we are prepared to make sacrifices." 

 

Brescia and Bergamo were the two most severely affected provinces in Italy during the first wave of pandemic last year. The first wave of pandemic began at this time last year and soon made Lombardy the epicenter of the European outbreak.