COVID Rt number rises from 0.91 to 1.26

(ANSA) - ROME, JUL 23 - Italy's COVID Rt infection rate number has risen from 0.91 last week to 1.26 this week, meaning that each person with the virus now infects more than one other, according to the weekly monitoring report from the health ministry and the Higher Health Institute (ISS) that was approved Friday.
    There has also been a sharp rise in incidence rates which have risen from 19 cases per 100,000 inhabitants last week to 41 cases per 100,000 this week, the report says.
    Some 19 regions and autonomous provinces have now been classified as moderate COVID risk, and two, Basilicata and Val D'Aosta, as low risk.
    The RT number of Sardinia is 2.24, the highest.
    The ICU occupancy rate is steady at 2%, except for Sicily and Tuscany where it is 3%.
    There has been a slight rise in admissions, from 157 to 165.
    The circulation of the Delta variant is growing steadily and this more aggressive and infectious variant is now prevalent, the report said.
    ISS chief Silvio Brusaferro told a press conference that the Rt was soon projected to hit 1.55 while the average age of infection was down to 25 and the average age of ICU admission was 55.
    "The number of cases is rising, pulled up by young people between the ages of 10 and 29", he added.
    Brusaferro also observed that while the COVID incidence had doubled, there was "no stress on hospitals". (ANSA).