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22 August 2021 For the first time since the beginning of July, the new positive cases of Coronavirus in Italy, on a weekly basis, are decreasing. After the increase in cases due to the very rapid spread of the Delta variant, now predominant, the contagion curve has begun its descent.



It is not certain that the decrease will be constant or that the number of positives will not increase again, but the trend seems to be reversed and descending. 



Currently, the daily average for the past seven days is around 6,200 new positives. In what hopefully will be a mini-wave, thanks to the contribution of vaccinations, hospitalizations are increasing significantly, but at a slow pace and remaining under the alert thresholds set

by the Ministry of Health

for ward occupancy rates, 30% for intensive care and 40% for ordinary medical areas. 



According to the latest data from the

Istituto Superiore di Sanità

, most of the cases notified in the last 30 days in Italy were diagnosed in unvaccinated people. In those fully vaccinated, on the other hand, there is a strong reduction in the risk of diagnosis (83%), hospitalization (95%), intensive care admissions and deaths (97%) compared to those not vaccinated. 



According to

Agenas

, the intensive care occupancy rate has risen to 5% from 4% a week ago, while that of ordinary wards has risen to 7% from 6% a week ago.



No region has exceeded the thresholds for the transition from the white to the yellow zone, even if Sicily and Sardinia have come very close: according to the latest ISS monitoring, Sicily and Sardinia both stopped at 9.2% occupancy of intensive care, just below the 10% threshold, while Sicily has exceeded the threshold of the employment rate of ordinary wards (16.5% on the threshold of 15%). 



The passage into the yellow zone could only have been postponed, also given the high incidence of new weekly infections on 100 thousand inhabitants, for both above 155, above the threshold set at 50.



In total, 18

Regions

are classified

at risk "moderate"

, while the remaining three are classified

as

"low" risk

. Italy still all in white, then. 



As for the age groups in which we are infected, according to the Higher Institute of Health, in the last week, there has been a slowdown in the growth of cases in the 10-29 year range, while they have continued to grow in all the age groups over 40 (but the data are not yet consolidated).



In particular, the incidence in the 50-59 range exceeded 50 new cases per 100 thousand inhabitants for the first time since the beginning of May. The majority of Covid cases in the younger groups, since the beginning of the epidemic, have been recorded in the 14-19 age group with 291.860 cases, then the 11-13 age group with 124.857 cases; 6-10 years with 161.40, 3.5 years with 68,836 Covid cases and finally under three years with 54,022 cases.