The coronavirus epidemic is progressing in Italy, where the number of cases reached 2502 cases on Tuesday, and where 79 people died. It is the third most affected country in the world.
Seventy-nine people infected with the new coronavirus have died in Italy since the start of the epidemic, 27 more in 24 hours in a country with a total of 2502 cases, according to an official count published on Tuesday. Italy is the third country most affected by this epidemic of viral pneumonia, after China and South Korea.
The victims, the elderly
The deaths occurred mainly in Lombardy (the Milan region, 55 dead), 18 in Emilia-Romagna, 3 in Veneto (around Venice), 2 in the Marche (south-east) and 1 in Liguria (center-west ), Civil Protection chief Angelo Borrelli announced to the press on Tuesday.
The deceased were “55 to 101 years old”, but they are “mainly people over 70” with a majority of octogenarians and nonagenarians, and “many with previous pathologies”.
Angelo Borrelli also announced 466 new cases in 24 hours, bringing the total number of people infected since the start of the epidemic to 2502, including 160 people considered cured.
Among the 1,263 people still hospitalized on Tuesday, 220 were in intensive care. A thousand others who did not require care were kept at home.
Italy has so far carried out 25,856 tests on people who may have been infected. The main focus of the Italian epidemic has been identified in Codogno, 60 km south of Milan.