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HEALTH

Indian coronavirus variant detected in northern Italy

Authorities in Veneto, northern Italy, announced on Monday they had identified two cases of the Indian variant of coronavirus.

Published: 26 April 2021 17:28 CEST
Indian coronavirus variant detected in northern Italy
Photo: Piero Cruciatti/AFP

The news follows reports of another case in the central region of Tuscany last month, and comes after the Italian government banned arrivals from India, which is struggling with a catastrophic, record-breaking outbreak that has overwhelmed hospitals.

“Today in (the city of) Bassano we have the first two patients, two Indian citizens,” announced Luca Zaia, head of the Veneto region.

“There are now thousands of variants, and sooner or later they’ll all arrive,” he said. “We have to face up to this, and move forward.”

READ ALSO: Italy bans arrivals from virus-hit India

Bassano, in the province of Vicenza, lies some 65 kilometres (40 miles) north-east of Venice.

The two patients were identified as a father and adult daughter of Indian origin who recently returned from a trip to India. They are currently isolating at home.

Health Minister Roberto Speranza on Sunday announced a new ban on anyone entering Italy who has been in India in the past 14 days.

Anyone already in Italy who had been in India in the past 14 days should contact health authorities, he added.

With a new coronavirus variant spreading through its 1.3 billion people, India has become the world’s biggest coronavirus hotspot in recent days, reporting 349,691 new cases on Sunday alone.

In the past week, more than two million cases have been detected, a 58-percent increase on the previous seven days, according to figures compiled by AFP.

Member comments

  2. Creating what? Burning bodies on a pyre in Delhi? They’re sure scaring the hell out of 1.4 billion people in India then, including my family that can’t leave and all have tested positive with no ability to seek care.

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HEALTH

Italy records first ‘indigenous’ case of dengue fever in 2024

Italian health authorities said on Thursday they recorded the first 'indigenous' case of dengue fever for 2024 after a patient who had not travelled abroad tested positive.

Published: 12 September 2024 14:56 CEST
Italy records first 'indigenous' case of dengue fever in 2024

“The person who tested positive for dengue fever is in good clinical condition,” the provincial health authority of Brescia, northern Italy, said in a statement on Thursday.

The areas where the patient lived and worked have begun mosquito control measures, including setting mosquito traps, the agency said.

The head of the epidemiology department at Genoa’s San Martino Hospital, Matteo Bassetti, questioned whether it was indeed the first indigenous case of the year, or rather the first recognised one.

“By now, Dengue is an infection that must be clinically considered whenever there are suspicious symptoms, even outside of endemic areas,” Bassetti wrote on social media platform X.

Dengue is a viral disease causing a high fever. In rare cases, it can progress to more serious conditions resulting in severe bleeding.

Deaths are very rare.

An indigenous case means that the person has not recently travelled to regions of the world where the virus, which is transmitted from one person to another by tiger mosquitoes (Aedes albopictus), is widely circulating.

The presence of those mosquitoes have been increasing in several southern European countries, including Italy, France and Spain.

The World Health Organization has said the rise has been partly fuelled by climate change and weather phenomena in which heavy rain, humidity and higher temperatures favour mosquitoes’ reproduction and transmission of the virus.

In 2023, Italy recorded more than 80 indigenous cases, while France had about fifty, according to the WHO.

Cases in which the person is infected abroad number in the hundreds.

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