Risk of more deaths from cardiac ward closures - docs

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 29 - There is a rising risk of more deaths in Italy due to the closure of cardiac wards due to the COVID crisis, the Italian Society of Cardiology (SIC) said Thursday.
    "The suspension of cardiological day centres, of wards and coronary intensive care units due to COVID risks having catastrophic consequences," it said.
    It said mortality rates in heart patients may rise as soon as next month.
    "In some regions, above all in the South, cardiac walk-in day centres have been closed and cardiac wards emptied because the number of infected health staff has increased or because many cardiac wards have been turned into COVID-19 wards," said SIC President Ciro Indolfi..
    Italy is enduring a second wave of the virus.
    Many doctors have warned facilities may soon be swamped. (ANSA).