COVID-19: 32% drop in new cases in one week, deaths down too - GIMBE

(ANSA) - ROME, FEB 17 - The number of new COVID-19 cases registered in Italy between February 9 and 15 was down by 32.3% with respect to the previous week, the GIMBE medical foundation said on Thursday in its regular monitoring report on the coronavirus pandemic.
    It said it was the third consecutive week that the number of new cases had fallen here.
    It said the fall was down to a 27.8% drop in the number of COVID tests being done and to "lower circulation of the virus, which still remains high".
    It said the pressure COVID-19 is exerting on Italy's hospitals had continued to fall too.
    It said COVID admissions to ordinary hospital wards were down 14.9% and admissions to intensive care units dropped by 18.7%.
    It said the number of COVID-19 deaths registered in the period in question were down by 16.2% with respect to the previous week.
    The report added that the obligation for all over-50s in Italy to be vaccinated for the coronavirus, which kicked in on Tuesday, has not had a major impact, with 5.1 million people in Italy still unvaccinated. (ANSA).