The risk of the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy becoming "uncontrolled" has increased and the general situation is deteriorating, according to a draft of the weekly coronavirus monitoring report of the health ministry and the Higher Health Institute (ISS).
It said the virus Rt reproduction number has been increasing for five weeks and is now up to 1.09.
Lombardy and the autonomous province of Bolzano have the highest Rt rates, 1,25, and the number is over 1 in nine regions.
Veneto has the highest incidence, with 365.61 COVID cases per every 100,000 inhabitants.
The draft of the report said that the percentage of intensive-care beds occupied by COVID-19 patients was above the critical threshold of 30%.
It said the high level of contagion made it impossible to track and trace cases.
The report said virus-mitigation measures should be maintained to prevent the risk of a new upswing in cases.
ISS President Silvio Brusaferro told a press conference that there were some positive signs.
He said the contagion curve "is slowly starting to wane" while stressing that this trend "needs to be confirmed".
Gianni Rezza, the health ministry's director of prevention, said the situation would be much worse if it were not for the restrictions adopted, such as making the whole national a red zone, effectively putting it into lockdown, for most of the Christmas holidays.
"There has been a contained increase in incidence and in the Rt number, which means that, to some degree, the pace of the virus has slowed," Rezza said.
"This, however, would have started to accelerate in a decisive way if it had not been for the measures that were taken".
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