Contagions and variants, half of Italy is heading towards the orange zone

• Covid, an English variant in a school in Bollate

• Coronavirus, three cases of Brazilian variant in Abruzzo

• A rare variant found in Naples, it is the first time in Italy

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18 February 2021 Contagions on the rise, and concern for new variants affecting various areas of the country: it is almost certain that from Sunday half of the country will be in the orange zone and Abruzzo probably in the red zone.

However, the certification will come only with the publication of the new monitoring data, while the new executive led by Mario Draghi is already working to 'streamline' the Technical Scientific Committee and create a control room for ministers that takes into account not only the aspect normative of the measures but, at the same time, also of the economic one to avoid a new "skiing case".

The wait is therefore all aimed at next Friday when the new monitoring data of the Istituto Superiore di Sanità will be published. The regions most at risk are Lombardy (where four municipalities are now in lockdown), Emilia-Romagna, Lazio, Piedmont, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Marche. The most delicate situation is that of Abruzzo where there are already two provinces in the red zone, those of Pescara and Chieti. From Friday, however, there is a serious risk that the entire region will overshoot the Rt 1.25 index (the limit to pass into the red), even in the face of the record of hospitalizations of the last two months recorded today.  

Sileri: no lockdown but rigidity in moving between regions

"It is likely that some regions will return to the orange zone and some to the red zone. The national lockdown is not necessary, there will be stop & go. The blocking of movements between regions must be maintained. I appreciated that Draghi used the word trench, because we are at war and we will need the whole of 2021 to get out of it ". Thus Pierpaolo Sileri, senator of the M5S, spoke to the microphones of Radio Cusano Campus.

Variants alarm

Meanwhile the variants are worrying. A very rare strain of the virus has been found in Naples (just 100 cases in the world), which appeared for the first time in Italy. Yesterday it was Basilicata that identified the English variant - already widespread in Lombardy and other regions - while in Tuscany there would be a case of an Hebrew variant, as already ascertained in Veneto. From the Lombardy Region, President Attilio Fontana launches an appeal to the CTS to anticipate decisions on the areas. "With the Committee - he says - we discuss on Friday. For me, if it were possible, this date should be brought forward because the data at the CTS arrive on Tuesday and therefore we could anticipate the news". The councilor for Health of the Puglia Region, Pierluigi Lopalco, is skeptical of the 'traffic light' system. "I believe that the mechanism must be revised - he explains - because the change in the epidemiological situation is so fast that changing the risk zone on the basis of an evaluation of data coming from two weeks before is a mechanism that does not work very well".

Gimbe: three-week strict lockdown needed

A "rigorous" lockdown of two or

three weeks is needed

to bring down the curve of Covid infections.19. So Nino Cartabellotta, president of the Gimbe Foundation. "If we maintain the mitigation strategy, which has the primary objective of containing the overload of hospitals, we will inevitably carry the exhausting Stop & go of the last few months for the whole of 2021, perhaps by reviewing the criteria and timing of the system of 'color' Regions - he explains - If instead you decide to pursue a Covid-free strategy, it is necessary to break down the contagion curve with a rigorous lockdown of 2-3 weeks in order to resume tracing, relieve pressure on the health system, accelerate vaccinations and contain the emergency variants ".  

Marche at risk of orange

The Marche at risk of the orange area, despite the ordinance of the president of the Region Francesco Acquaroli which limits travel to and from the province of Ancona, the most affected by the infection, from this morning until 24 on Saturday, but not those at in the same province

In the meantime, the English variant continues to circulate in Ancona and, according to the director of the Virology laboratory of the Ospedali Riuniti Stefano Menzo "it is now prevalent" compared to the traditional Covid 19 strain. In the rest of the Marche the situation of infections it is much better: 85 in the province of Pesaro Urbino, 56 in the province of Macerata, 29 in the province of Ascoli Piceno, 17 in the province of Fermo and 25 outside the region.

Even in Piedmont Rt is growing

Is Piedmont in danger of returning to the orange? "The numbers say no, those of the pre-report of the Ministry of Health. We still have the numbers from the yellow zone because the situation has not worsened, it is stable. The RT, albeit slightly increasing, remains below 1, so the numbers are from Piedmont in the yellow zone. But the verdict is up to the CTS, it is up to Rome. We are convinced that with these numbers the positioning of the region is this but the CTS will have to decide tomorrow ". Thus the president of the Piedmont Region Alberto Cirio. "We appreciate the commitment expressed yesterday in the Senate by Prime Minister Draghi - he adds - to anticipate the timing of the validation of the Report, but now we are waiting for this commitment to become reality. Because it is Thursday and the Piedmontese and Italian citizens do not yet know what color theirs will be. region next week. And I remind everyone that, now more than ever, we must be cautious in our behavior and not lower our attention so as not to frustrate all the sacrifices and efforts made to get here ".