Covid today Italy, Brusaferro: “Situation under control”

by time news

“In Italy the situation is under control, we have the most controlled incidences compared to other European countries”. This was reiterated by the president of the Higher Institute of Health (Iss), Silvio Brusaferro, in his speech at the press conference on the analysis of the data of the COVID-19 regional monitoring of the control room.

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In the epidemiological map of Europe, “Italy has the lighter colors. Many regions are in green, where the circulation is more contained and the positivity of cases is limited. Other parts of Europe are characterized by high circulation, especially in the ‘eastern area “, he added.

The new mutation of the Delta variant of Sars-CoV-2, “the one called AY.4.2, is substantially present in our country even if in a rather limited number of cases. 86 sequences have been made, based on the data updated to 19 October “, Brusaferro then explained, recalling that the ‘classic’ Delta variant” today is the dominant one in circulation and represents over 99% of the sequences that are performed in our country. And it is a very consistent figure with the rest of the Union European “.

The data of anti Covid vaccinations are “slightly increasing”. In particular, immunization “continues to grow, in a very positive way, in the 20-29 age group which with the first dose reached 87.2%” For people aged 12 to 19, it reaches 71, 2%”. “The other age groups are also growing, always for the first dose”, finally highlighted Brusaferro.

REZZA

“There is a very small turnaround in incidence and RT,” which grow back slightly. But the “trend” of the epidemic is still quite favorable at this moment. The vaccination campaign has shown us excellent success and the measures we have kept in place, while reopening all activities, have contributed so far to keep the incidence rather low “, underlined Gianni Rezza, Director General of Prevention of the Ministry of Health, during the press conference on the analysis of the data of the COVID-19 regional monitoring of the control room.

“The incidence – he explained – goes back to the levels of 2 weeks ago, to 34 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants: it therefore remains low, especially when compared with that of most other European countries”. But above all, we remain “below the fateful threshold of 50 cases / 100 thousand, below which it is possible to trace”. As for the RT, “it grows very little, it goes to 0.86 – continued Rezza – also in this case with a small reversal of the trend” but “remaining below 1, which means that the incidence should not increase in the next future. As far as the employment rates of the medical and intensive care area are concerned, things are going well: luckily we are below the critical thresholds “.

As for the third doses, “we do not yet know when we will have to revaccinate younger people to ensure that the virus continues to circulate little. The data is accumulating but there is no definitive evidence yet. Besides, young people have been vaccinated more recently”. “It will probably take some time to decide if and when to revaccinate them. This could explain a measure like the extension of the Green pass because otherwise, every six months, something would have to be done to renew it”.

“It seems to me that the only attention at this moment must be placed on the duration of the vaccine protection”: an element to “pay attention to” in order to understand whether to “give more emphasis” to third doses in people who are at greater risk of getting sick with Covid. The protection conferred by the vaccine, he recalled, “appears to be very good against the disease”. A little less “against infection, either because the Delta variant confers a partial lower efficacy” of immunization, “or because there are people vaccinated a long time ago and they are perhaps the people most at risk”. Hence “the need to pay attention to this phenomenon – underlined the DG – and possibly to give greater emphasis not only to the completion of the vaccination campaign as regards the primary cycle, but also as regards the third dose in people at greater risk of complications” .

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