Giuseppe Ippolito, CTS infectious disease specialist and scientific director of Spallanzani, can we dream of a safe summer?
“Yes, but first of all it will depend on the progress of the epidemic and, in part, also on the possibility of having a vaccination certificate”.
The debate on how best to protect tourists is ongoing. What do you think?
“In view of the summer, efforts are being made to guarantee mobility within Italy and between countries. On April 29, the European Parliament voted on the Eu Covid-19 certificate. Not all the details have been worked out, there is a need for confrontation between governments. A person will likely need to have been vaccinated or recovered from the infection or have had a negative test. It is an approach similar to that adopted by Italy in the reopening decree ».
How do the tourism “passes” work
Will each vaccination count as a pass?
«The States will recognize the certificates issued by the countries of origin to those vaccinated with the preparations now authorized in the EU, currently Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, AstraZeneca and J&J. But remember that the certificate will not be a prerequisite for traveling, but is intended to limit the inconvenience deriving from the need for quarantine, isolation or other tests on arrival ».
Do national ordinances not apply?
“The certificate does not replace the ordinances, including – until new provisions – those of the Italian Ministry of Health, when they establish the obligation for those arriving to swab and quarantine for five days.”
Worried about the Indian variant?
«Not particularly. I am more worried about the thousands of irresponsible people – and I want to use a polite term – who crowded into Piazza Duomo in Milan on Sunday, putting their own health and that of their families at risk. We hope not to pay the consequences in a fortnight ”.
India travels at a rate of 400,000 infections and 3,000 deaths a day, isn’t it serious?
“It is a country of 1.4 billion inhabitants that is about to overtake China as the most populous in the world. Since the start of the pandemic, it has had 20 million positive cases and about 220,000 deaths. At the moment the incidence rate, that is the relationship between the number of positive cases and the population, is similar to what was in Italy a week ago “.
What to attribute to the explosion of cases in India?
“To the relaxation of the restrictive measures: after a very heavy lockdown, India had emerged from the first wave and some studies had estimated that about a quarter of the adult population had become infected: we are talking about about 270 million people, about twenty times of more than certified positive cases. Perhaps the worst was thought to be over. And so the government has allowed the holding, without particular limitations, of the largest religious gathering in the world, with tens of millions of people in the sacred city of Haridwar for ritual baths in the Ganges river ».
Are the measures taken in Italy, such as the blocking of flights and the ban on entry for those coming from India, Bangladesh or Sri Lanka, superfluous?
«The measures can be shared from a precautionary point of view and are now routine: a similar measure is still valid for Brazil and, until a few weeks ago, for travelers arriving from Great Britain or Tyrol. The safest and fastest way to slow down the coronavirus race is to limit the interactions of people, and therefore the movements from the areas with the greatest presence of infections “.
May 5, 2021 (change May 5, 2021 | 00:44)
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