(Fighting new crown pneumonia) Italian experts say virus spread in the country may precede outbreak in China
China News Agency, Beijing, March 21st. Professor Giuseppe Remuzzi, head of Italy's Mario Negri Institute of Pharmacology (Istituto di ricerche farmacologiche Mario Negri), said in an interview with US media a few days ago The new crown virus may have spread in Italy before the outbreak of the new crown virus in China.
Asked by the US National Public Radio (NPR) why Italy behaved unprepared after the outbreak on February 21, Remuzzi said he learned from GPs as early as December or November last year At that time, they remembered seeing a "very strange and extremely severe pneumonia of unknown cause", especially in the elderly.
"This means that the virus spread in Italy before we noticed the outbreak in China, at least in northern Lombardy." Remuzzi said, "People simply can't communicate with something they don't know exists. Fight. "
NPR reports that Italy is responding to the new crown pneumonia epidemic with a "wartime state." Officials in the Italian health department are working to build more beds. In Milan, the old open-air playground was converted into a 500-bed new temporary pneumonia hospital. Inflatable tents have been set up outside Italian hospitals to classify and isolate patients.
"Our dermatologists, ophthalmologists, and pathologists are all learning how to use a ventilator to take care of patients." Remuzzi said that many general hospital wards in Italy are rapidly transforming into dedicated care units for neocoronary pneumonia, equipped with Professionally trained medical staff.
In a study published in the international medical journal The Lancet on the 12th of this month, Remuzzi and co-authors believe that the Italian medical system is under tremendous pressure under the current situation. If the number of confirmed cases in Italy continues to increase exponentially in the next few days, the government will not be able to quickly and promptly increase the number of supported medical staff, build more beds, and provide medical hospitals and other medical equipment with sufficient numbers of ventilators. More deaths. In addition, the study also pointed out that about 20% of health care workers in Italy have become infected as a result of working around the clock, and some of them have died.
As of 18:00 on the 20th local time, the cumulative number of confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia in Italy rose to 47,021, and the number of deaths increased to 4,032. The northern Lombardy region has the worst outbreak. (Finish)