Italy's overall fight to contain the spread of the <keyword id="1754604" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="coronavirus">coronavirus</keyword> continued to show results, with the number of deaths, intensive-care cases, and new infections all trending downward, based on information from the <keyword id="210071" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Ministry-of-Health">Ministry of Health</keyword> and the country's <keyword id="2496892" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Civil-Protection-Department">Civil Protection Department</keyword> on Sunday. Italy's daily death toll continued to fall as a further 433 people had died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, raising the country's death toll to 23,660, official data showed. Sunday's number of new deaths was the smallest in a week. It also represented the fourth time in five days that the number of victims of the global pandemic fell in Italy, Xinhua reported. The total number of confirmed cases -- combining active infections, fatalities and recoveries -- rose to 178,972, a daily increase of 3,047 against Saturday, according to fresh figures from the Civil <keyword id="18088" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Protection">Protection</keyword> Department. The number of new infections was slightly lower than the number of 3,491 recorded a day earlier. Also, there were 2,128 additional recoveries in the past 24 hours, bringing the total recoveries to 47,055, since the pandemic first broke out in the northern Lombardy region on February 21. Of the total 108,257 active infections, 2,635 patients are in intensive care, down by 98 compared to the previous day. In a social media post uploaded late on Saturday, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the national quarantine, first put into place on March 10, could be partially lifted starting May 4, the day after the current <keyword id="91743" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="lockdown">lockdown</keyword> deadline. Conte said the easing of protection measures would be "based on a well-articulated program that reconciles the protection of citizens' health and the need for economic production." But Conte also brushed aside media speculation that the lockdown would be lifted earlier in some parts of the country. He said that to whatever extent the quarantine was lifted it would be done on the same terms across the country. The national lockdown will be followed by a so-called "Phase Two," involving "the gradual resumption of social, economic and productive activities," the Italian government has explained. Sunday marked the first time since late February that the country's Civil Protection Department did not hold a daily briefing, another sign that the situation is improving. Civil Protection chief <keyword id="8826375" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="angelo-borrelli">Angelo Borrelli</keyword> said in a statement released Saturday that going forward live, on-air briefings would only take place on Mondays and Thursdays. See Also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/data-of-coronavirus-patients-state-wise-in-india/articleshow/74669748.cms">Coronavirus cases in India state wise</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/topic/coronavirus">Coronavirus News and Updates</a>

Italy braces for a lockdown relaxation as death toll falls

Rome, Apr 4 (AFP) Italy on Saturday saw its first drop in patients receiving intensive care for the coronavirus that has killed 15,362 people in the country and put the healthcare system under massive strain."This is very important news," civil protection service chief Angelo Borrelli told reporters of the drop from 4,068 to 3,994 intensive care patients over the past 24 hours. "It allows our hospitals to breathe." (AFP)  NSA

Italy's intensive care virus cases drop for first time

New York, Apr 6 (AP) Americans braced for what the nation's top doctor warned Sunday would be "the hardest and saddest week" of their lives while Britain assumed the unwelcome mantle of deadliest coronavirus hot spot in Europe after a record 24-hour jump in deaths that surpassed even hard-hit Italy's.Britain's own prime minister, Boris Johnson, was hospitalized, 10 days after testing positive for COVID-19 in what his office described as a "precautionary step." Amid the dire news, there were also glimmers of hope some hard-hit areas - the number of people dying appeared to be slowing in New York City, Spain and Italy. The news was cautiously welcomed by leaders, who also noted that any gains could easily be reversed if people did not continue to adhere to strict lockdowns.US Surgeon General Jerome Adams offered a stark warning about the expected wave of virus deaths."This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment,'' he told "Fox News Sunday." But President Donald Trump later suggested the hard weeks ahead could foretell the turning of a corner. "We're starting to see light at the end of the tunnel," Trump said at an evening White House briefing.In New York City, the U.S. epicenter of the pandemic, daily deaths dropped slightly, along with intensive care admissions and the number of patients who needed breathing tubes inserted, but New York state Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned it was "too early to tell" the significance of those numbers.Italy and Spain also got some encouraging news. Italy registered its lowest day-to-day increase in deaths in more than two weeks - 525, said Angelo Borrelli, the head of the national Civil Protection agency. The pace of infection also seemed to be slowing.Even so, Borrelli warned, "This good news shouldn't make us drop our guard." Confirmed infections fell in Spain, too, and new deaths declined for the third straight day, dropping to 674 - the first time daily deaths have fallen below 800 in the past week.The outlook, however, was bleak in Britain, which reported more than 600 deaths Sunday, surpassing Italy's increase. Italy still has, by far, the world's highest coronavirus death toll - almost 16,000.In a rare televised address, Queen Elizabeth II appealed to Britons to rise the occasion, while acknowledging enormous disruptions, grief and financial difficulties."I hope in the years to come, everyone will be able to take pride in how they responded to this challenge," she said. "And those who come after us will say that the Britons of this generation were as strong as any." Johnson, meanwhile, has been hospitalized, though his office said it was not an emergency and that the 55-year-old Conservative will undergo tests.There are concerns that Johnson's government did not take the virus seriously enough at first and that spring weather will tempt Britons and others to break social distancing rules.Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the U.K. might even ban outdoor exercise if people still ''flout the rules.'' "The vast majority of people are following the public health advice, which is absolutely critical, and staying at home," Hancock told Sky TV. "But there are a small minority of people who are still not doing that - it's quite unbelievable, frankly, to see that." As the numbers of infections rose, Saffron Cordery, the deputy head of Britain's National Health Service Providers, said the agency needed to focus on quickly increasing ventilator capacity and getting more protective equipment for health care workers.Italians have not been immune to lure of the good weather, either. Top Italian officials took to national television after photos were published showing huge crowds out shopping.Health Minister Roberto Speranza told RAI state television that all the sacrifices Italians have made since the nationwide lockdown began risked being reversed.Restrictions on movement vary from country to country, state to state, locality to locality.(AP) AMSAMS

Americans brace for 'hardest, saddest' week of their lives

Paris, Apr 8 (AFP) Doctors, researchers, even an army officer: the coronavirus pandemic has brought a diverse cast of experts into the media spotlight to guide the public through the crisis.Many were unknown before the crisis, now they are familiar faces in living rooms across the world, from New York to Madrid to Beijing.Fernando Simon, the epidemiologist who presents the health ministry's daily televised briefings on the grim progress of the coronavirus in Spain has himself caught the virus.Despite falling ill at the end of March, he continues to summarise the day's findings, in his hoarse, thin voice, from his room self-isolation.Simon's relaxed, informal presentation style is clear and instructive.But as director of the ministry's Health Alert and Emergency Coordination Centre, his initially cautious approach to the approaching crisis earned him criticism from some colleagues.They also argue he was too slow to recognise the need for the radical lockdown now in place.Analysis of his performances on social media is rather less technical: some see a resemblance to Barcelona player Antoine Griezmann.His thick eyebrows and unruly mop of salt-and-pepper hair have been a gift to the nation's cartoonists.As a doctor who has worked in Latin America and in Africa for the European Union and the World Health Organization, this not his first health emergency.In 2014, he led the response to the Ebola outbreak, when two Spanish missionaries died in a Madrid hospital of the deadly disease.Anthony Fauci, the United States' top infectious disease expert, has led the country's response to every major epidemic since the outbreak of AIDS in the 1980s.Now he has had to master the art of gently pushing back against the bluster of his boss, President Donald Trump, without actually saying he is wrong.With his calm, professorial demeanour, pint-sized Fauci is fast becoming a household name as the evidence-driven straight shooter in the administration's coronavirus taskforce.During one televised meeting with pharmaceutical executives in early March, Trump seemed to suggest a coronavirus vaccine could be ready in "three to four months".Fauci stepped in."You won't have a vaccine," he replied in his gravelly Brooklyn accent. "You'll have a vaccine to go into testing." It would take 12 to 18 months to determine whether it was effective, safe and can be produced in quantity, he explained.Fauci has also had to temper Trump's enthusiasm for the prospects of anti-malarial drugs hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine as possible treatments.While the president is already calling them a "game changer", Fauci has made it clear that it's too early to say -- that any "anecdotal evidence" needs validation in randomised clinical trials.Fauci, ever the diplomat, has consistently played down these public yet polite disagreements.China's unofficial spokesman on the deadly coronavirus pandemic might at first seem an unlikely choice: an outspoken 83-year-old doctor who once publicly disputed the government line.But medical expert Zhong Nanshan, who leads the National Health Commission investigation against the outbreak, has become an authoritative voice in China's virus fight.COVID-19, which has claimed over 3,300 lives in China, drew parallels with the 2002-3 SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome) outbreak in terms of its initial spread.That was when Zhong became a household name, when he publicly disputed the view that SARS was "effectively controlled" -- revealing a higher number of cases than Beijing was letting on.He was a "natural pick" for Beijing to break any impression of a cover-up, said Zhao Litao, senior research fellow at Singapore's East Asia Institute.His reputation as a trustworthy scientist -- and a non-government source -- helped build confidence as Beijing tackled the crisis, say observers.Zhong revealed in late January the coronavirus was spreading between people, making it more infectious than anticipated.As a result, cities imposed heavy travel and movement restrictions, and two new hospitals were built."This time he was tasked to speak the truth, while 17 years ago he had to take the risk for (doing so)," said Zhao.Every evening at six o'clock, civil protection chief Angelo Borrelli, after a brief "buonasera" -- or good evening in English -- presents the latest figures live to the nation.The bespectacled former accountant, 55, details the rise in cases, intensive care patients, the cured and, finally, the dead.But despite is expert status, Italians view Borrelli as one of them rather than part of the distant elite.When on March 25, some three weeks into Italy's coronavirus epidemic, he went down with a fever and self-isolated, there was nationwide alarm.Three days later however he was back, having tested negative.Borrelli has been on the frontline of Italy's emergencies since joining the civil protection agency in 2002, taking over as head three years ago.He was perhaps the natural choice to front the coronavirus crisis and has been praised as a calming influence at a time of mounting panic.But his critics say he has been overly cautious in his response to a invisible enemy that has killed more than 16,500 Italians.In a rare personal reflection, he confessed recently to concern that social distancing measures had caused people to "internalise fears and anxieties"."Reducing the metre that now separates us will be very difficult," he reflected. (AFP) RS RS

The experts guiding the world through the coronavirus pandemic

<img src="https://static-ssl.businessinsider.com/image/5e5da3b8fee23d2be07736e3-2400/46511689e86ab92b6535eba2e4476c73.jpg" alt="An Italian army soldier blocks off a road leading to the village of Vo'Euganeo, in Italy's northern Veneto region, on Friday, Feb. 28, 2020. Vo'Euganeo is the epicenter of the Veneto cluster of the new virus. (Claudio Fulan/LaPresse via AP)" /><ul class="summary-list"><li>Officials in the Lombardy region of Italy are looking to pull in retired doctors and nursing students who are close to graduating to combat the massive number of COVID-19 patients in the region, <a href="https://apnews.com/837274f1bab9af1aab12f1b9481b2d62">the Associated Press reported.</a></li><li>More than half of the over 2,000 confirmed new coronavirus infections in Italy are in the Lombardy region. </li><li>A little less then 10% of Lombardy's COVID-19 cases need ICU treatment. </li><li>Ten percent of doctors and nurses in the Lombardy region have already caught the novel coronavirus are in quarantine themselves. </li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/?hprecirc-bullet">Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories</a>.</li></ul>In the Lombardy region of Italy, the epicenter for the novel coronavirus outbreak in the country, officials are looking to pull doctors out of retirement and fast-track nursing students that are close to graduating to help treat patients, <a href="https://apnews.com/837274f1bab9af1aab12f1b9481b2d62">the Associated Press reported.</a>According to the AP, 10% of health care workers in the region have caught the virus and can not attend to patients. More than half of Italy's 2,036 COVID-19 virus cases are in Lombardy. The country has seen 54 deaths, most of them in the region. According to <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-italy/italian-region-warns-of-hospital-chaos-if-coronavirus-spreads-idUSKCN20M2J8">Reuters,</a> regional authorities also want to keep schools closed and ban public gathering for another week, to keep the virus from spreading. In some of the worst affected areas, around 4% of the population had contracted the virus, Reuters reported. According to the AP, hospitals in the cities Lodi and Cremona had so many patients coming in last week, they had to close their emergency rooms and send some patients to other facilities. A little under ten percent of people with the COVID-19 virus in the region need to be admitted to the ICU, the head of the national Civil Protection agency, Angelo Borrelli, told the AP. "Effectively some of the hospitals in Lombardy are under a stress that is much heavier than what this area can support," Dr. Massimo Galli, head of infectious disease at Milan's Sacco Hospital, told Sky TG24.Officials are asking for retired doctors to be put back on the payroll and come in to treat patients. Additionally, nursing students who would have taken their final exams next month, will graduate in the next few day so they can also attend to new COVID-19 patients. "We'll take anyone: old, young. We need personnel, especially qualified doctors," the region's top health official, Giulio Gallera told the AP. <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/people-with-other-illnesses-pay-price-coronavirus-containment-2020-2">In China</a>, where the outbreak originated, the shortage of medical staff and the vast of majority of resources being redirected towards COVID-19, left many others who suffered from other ailments vulnerable. Some couldn't travel for necessary procedures, and other had lack of access to the medicine they needed to stay alive. Italy currently has the worst outbreak outside of Asia. Many <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-before-and-after-photos-show-europe-landmarks-empty-2020-3#after-the-famous-square-is-now-looking-eerily-empty-as-the-number-of-cases-in-italy-continues-to-climb-2https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-before-and-after-photos-show-europe-landmarks-empty-2020-3#after-the-famous-square-is-now-looking-eerily-empty-as-the-number-of-cases-in-italy-continues-to-climb-2">tourist attractions</a> even in areas not impacted by the virus have been shut down to the public, for containment efforts. <ul class="read-more-links"><li>Read more:</li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/people-with-other-illnesses-pay-price-coronavirus-containment-2020-2">While the world focuses on the coronavirus, people in China with other illnesses may pay a price long after the outbreak ends</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/cdc-issues-travel-warning-italy-covid-19-concerns-2020-2">The US is telling Americans to avoid nonessential travel to Italy</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-covid-19-threat-places-least-equipped-to-handle-2020-2">The coronavirus may run rampant in some countries least prepared to deal with it. If that happens experts say the virus could become endemic.</a></li><li><a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/china-virus-everything-we-know-deadly-2019-ncov-wuhan-spread-2020-1">The coronavirus death toll has surpassed 3,000, with more than 89,000 infected. The US has reported 6 deaths. Here's everything we know.</a></li></ul>

The healthcare system in Italy's Lombardy region is so strained from the new coronavirus, officials are asking doctors to come out of retirement and nursing students are being fast-tracked to graduation

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Italy braces for a lockdown relaxation as death toll falls

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Italy's intensive care virus cases drop for first time

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Americans brace for 'hardest, saddest' week of their lives

PTI

The experts guiding the world through the coronavirus pandemic

PTI

The healthcare system in Italy's Lombardy region is so strained from the new coronavirus, officials are asking doctors to come out of retirement and nursing students are being fast-tracked to graduation

Sarah Al-Arshani,Sarah Al-Arshani