Italy has seen a sharp decline in the number of hospitalisations and intensive care cases owing to the massive vaccination campaign for the elderly across the country from April 6 to May 25, said a medical research institute on Thursday.
The Gimbe Foundation, a non-profit health care research entity, said that both the number of new confirmed cases and the number of new deaths were significantly decreased recently across the country.
In breakdown as of May 25, there were 8 557 hospitalised cases of COVID-19 in Italy, down 70.8% from its peak on April 6, the report said. There were 1 323 cases in intensive care units, down by 64.7%.
Significantly, the decline in the number of new confirmed cases among the elderly and frail, who are widely vaccinated, has been more pronounced than in other groups, said the report.
The vaccination is the main reason for the decline in infections, said the report.
In addition, the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 from May 19 to May 25 decreased by 29.5% from the previous week, and the number of new deaths was down 17.4%.
More importantly, the number of new confirmed cases of COVID-19 has been decreasing for 10 consecutive weeks, said the report.
The number of new cases is falling in all regions of the country, with eight regions having infection rates below the alert level of 50 cases per 100 000 inhabitants.
In general, Italy has recorded 4 147 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 4 205 970, the country’s health ministry said on Thursday. A total of 171 new deaths were reported, taking the total deaths to 125 793.
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