- ROME, FEB 24 - The number of new COVID-19 cases registered
in Italy between February 16 and 22 was down by 20.6% (or
349,122) compared to the 32% decrease registered over the
previous week, the GIMBE medical foundation said Thursday in
its weekly monitoring report on the coronavirus pandemic.
A drop was also registered in the total number of tests
carried out over the past week (-19.6%), GIMBE noted.
All regions during the same period recorded a decrease of new
cases: from -0.5% in Calabria to -35.9% in Friuli-Venezia
Giulia.
The report said the pressure COVID-19 is exerting on Italy's
hospitals has continued to fall.
Over the past seven days, COVID admissions to ordinary
hospital wards were down 16.2% while admissions to intensive
care units dropped by 19.9%.
It said the number of COVID-19 deaths recorded in the period
in question continued to decline in a stable trend, down by
15.8% (1,828 deaths) compared to the previous week.
Between February 9 and 14, GIMBE had registered a 14.9% drop
in admissions to ordinary hospital wards, a 18.7% decline in ICU
admissions and a 16% drop in deaths.
The report added that only 59,000 people had been vaccinated,
with a drop in immunizations for all over-50s (-44%) and in the
age group between 5 and 11 years of age (-57%), during the week
between February 16 and 22.
GIMBE said 4.9 million people in Italy are still unvaccinated
while 2.17 have recovered from the virus and are only
temporarily protected.
A reported 84.9% have received a third dose of the vaccine,
with a significant difference between regions, GIMBE added.
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