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In spring, the photos from Italy went around the world. They showed military trucks carrying corpses and conveyed a clear message: the coronavirus can cause considerable suffering if left unchecked.
Now the number of cases in the Mediterranean country is again on the rise. On Thursday, authorities reported nearly 38,000 new infections within 24 hours. The country, with its 60 million inhabitants, had previously passed the 1 million mark of infections detected since the start of the pandemic.
Also noteworthy was the video of a man who was found dead in the bathrooms of an emergency room of a clinic in Naples. It is unclear whether the man has already been treated there or was waiting for a test. The images also show a corridor overflowing with hospital beds. The video spread quickly on social media.
People treated in parking lots
Those in charge of the affected hospital have promised an investigation into the circumstances of the death. Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio sees the “shocking video” as further proof of how precarious the situation around the Italian port city has become.
“In Naples and in many parts of Campania the situation is out of control,” Luigi Di Maio wrote on Facebook Wednesday evening. There are reports of people being cared for in the car parks. Others would have had to wait too long to be transported to the hospital.
Regional Minister Francesco Boccia called the video recordings shameful for all those responsible. At the same time, in a television interview with broadcaster La7, he pointed out that too many people with mild coronary symptoms come to the hospital instead of taking home treatment.
The images of Naples show people waiting in long lines of cars in front of a hospital to be tested or treated. Some sufferers were still supplied with oxygen or an infusion in their car, reports the Reuters news agency.
Calabria: 154 intensive care beds for the entire region
While the north of the country was mainly affected in the spring, Italy has seen a worrying increase in the number of cases in many more regions during the current spate. This also includes the poorer areas in the south of the country which have a poorer hospital system.
At the beginning of the year, 146 intensive care beds were available throughout Calabria. Despite the coronavirus threat, by the end of October their number had risen to only 154. In Sicily, on Monday the mayor of Palermo warned against the growing number of infections of an “inevitable massacre”.
Due to regional risk differences, the Italian government has recently divided the country into three risk zones. More than half of the 20 regions (comparable to our federal states) have been designated as red or orange zones. In the red areas – including Lombardy and Piedmont to the north and Calabria to the south – partial blocks with exit restrictions apply.
The city of Naples and the surrounding Campania region, on the other hand, have so far been evaluated by the government only as a moderate risk area (yellow) on the basis of 21 indicators. Several politicians had harshly criticized this in recent days and warned of a collapse of hospitals. Doubts have been raised about the credibility of the region’s numbers. After the shock video from Naples, there were signals from Rome to re-examine the situation.
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