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HEALTH

Covid-19: Italy to extend state of emergency until April 30th

With Covid-19 infections on the rise, the Italian government is planning to extend the country’s state of emergency.

Published: 14 January 2021 09:08 CET
Covid-19: Italy to extend state of emergency until April 30th
Photo: AFP

Italy's health data on Friday showed the coronavirus Rt number (reproduction rate) had risen above 1 for the first time in six weeks, further cementing the government’s fears that a third wave of the coronavirus is on its way.

READ ALSO: How will Italy's coronavirus rules change under the new emergency decree?

Hopes in early December that the country could begin to reopen in January have now been dashed, and health minister Roberto Speranza on Wednesday confirmed the extension of many current restrictions from January 15th.

Speranza also confirmed that the government plans to extend the stato di emergenza to April 30th.

“This week there has been a general deterioration in the epidemiological situation in Italy,” Speranza told parliament's lower house, stating that the epidemic is “in a phase of expansion again” as he outlined plans for the next emergency decree.

Italian health minister Roberto Speranza announcing the extension to parliament. Photo: AFP

The state of emergency declaration allows Italian officials to bypass much of the bureaucracy that often slows down decision-making.Italy’s state of emergency does not determine the emergency rules and restrictions and it's not the same thing as an emergency decree.

It gives greater powers to both the national government and to regional authorities, and allows the Prime Minister to introduce, change, and revoke rules quickly via emergency decrees.
 
 
The current state of alarm is due to end on January 31st, by when the state of emergency will have been in place for one year.
 
Italy first declared the state of emergency in late January 2020 after the first two cases of Covid-19 were detected in the country, in two Chinese tourists in Rome.
 
 
Italian law states that the duration of a national state of emergency cannot exceed 12 months and can be extended for no more than a further 12 months.

But the 12-month extension period starts with the first extension, which began on July 31st 2020.

This suggests that the state of emergency will end at the very latest on July 31st 2021.

There are high hopes that Italy wil have made good progress with its vaccination campaign by that point.

As of January 14th, the country has vaccinated almost 900,000 people.

Italy is prioritising medical workers and elderly care home residents, and the vaccine is not yet available to the general public.

Since the start of the pandemic Italy has reported 2.1 million infections and more than 80,000 deaths in total from Covid-19.

 

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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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