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Roundup: Positive coronavirus trends, vaccine news spark optimism in Italy

Xinhua English

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ROME, April 12 (Xinhua) -- Italy's coronavirus vaccine rollout will get a big boost this week, a dose of good news that comes as the overall pandemic indicators continued their positive trend.

On Monday, Italy's Ministry of Health reported 9,789 new coronavirus infections, the second time in a week the figure was below 10,000 -- a benchmark previously not seen since February. There were 358 deaths recorded, the third consecutive day that figure remained under 500 and the tenth time in 12 days so far this month.

According to data tabulated by La Repubblica, the number of new coronavirus cases over the week ending Sunday was 101,627, down by more than a quarter compared to the previous week.

The positive developments come amid reports that at least 2.2 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine will arrive in Italy this week -- the highest one-week total for vaccine arrivals since they first became available in December.

As of Monday, 13.1 million Italians had received at least one dose of one of the approved coronavirus vaccines, a number that should climb quickly over the next week. So far, 3.95 million Italian residents have been fully vaccinated -- meaning they received two doses of either the Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna, or AstraZeneca vaccine -- meaning around 6.6 percent of the total population has been vaccinated, near the European Union average, according to a report released Saturday by the data firm Statista.

Over the 24 hours ending Monday, more than 18,000 people were declared cured of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. That means cured individuals outnumbered new cases for the third consecutive day and the 18th time in 22 days. Before that, new infections outnumbered cures every day between Feb. 19 and March 21.

There were 3,595 Italian patients in intensive care units as of Monday, ten more than on Sunday but nearly 100 less than at the start of the month.

The positive news has sparked cautious optimism in Italy.

Minister of Health Roberto Speranza predicted "much more freedom" by the summer season if things continue to improve.

As of Monday, only four of Italy's 20 regions -- Valle d'Aosta, Campania, Apulia, and Sardinia -- remain "red" zones, the most restrictive of the four-color restriction scale. The other 16 were in the "orange" category, the second most restrictive tier. Of those, only Sardinia switched from "orange" to "red" with six regions shifting in the other direction.

The most recent government coronavirus decree declared all regions would remain either "red" or "orange" through the end of this month.

Public schools in all 16 of the regions with an "orange" status are completely open, meaning that 6.6 million out of Italy's 8.5 million students are back in the classroom.

But Massimo Galli, director of the infectious diseases section at Sacco Hospital in Milan, warned it was too early for government leaders to consider lifting pandemic restrictions. "Doing that seems like the plot of an old film we see again and again on television but that we fail to learn from," Galli told a local media. Enditem

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