People wait to enter a vaccination center in Rome, Italy, on Jan. 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Jin Mamengni)
This week, Italy has surpassed the threshold of 10 million coronavirus cases since the pandemic broke out in February 2020. As of Thursday, some 2.7 million people were infected, with 2.68 million isolated at home with either mild symptoms, or no symptoms at all.
ROME, Jan. 28 (Xinhua) -- The incidence of coronavirus cases and occupancy rate of hospital beds in Italy have both decreased, the latest data showed on Friday.
According to the weekly report carried out by the National Institute of Health (ISS) across the 20 Italian regions, the COVID-19 incidence rate dropped to 1,823 cases per 100,000 inhabitants between Jan. 21 and Jan. 27, compared to 2,011 cases in the previous week.
The report also showed that the country's average reproduction number (RT) between Jan. 5 and Jan. 18 fell to 0.97, which is "below the pandemic threshold," the ISS noted.
An RT below 1 indicates that one infectious person would on average transmit the infection to less than one other person.
People wearing face masks walk past the Colosseum in Rome, Italy, on Jan. 24, 2022. (Xinhua/Jin Mamengni)
In the previous period (Dec. 29 - Jan. 11), the RT was 1.31.
Pressure on the national health system is also decreasing, with the rate of occupancy of hospital beds by COVID-19 patients on ordinary wards dropping to 30.4 percent from 31.6 percent. Meanwhile, the rate in intensive care units fell to 16.7 percent, from 17.3 percent in the previous survey.
The new data supports an announcement made by Italy's COVID emergency commissioner Francesco Paolo Figliuolo earlier this week.
"We have good news: it seems we have reached the plateau of the curve for the Omicron variant ... we are going downward," he said on Jan. 24.
In a separate report on Friday, the National Health Institute said the Omicron variant represents some 95.8 percent of all infections, according to data gathered on Jan. 17.
This week, Italy has surpassed the threshold of 10 million coronavirus cases since the pandemic broke out in February 2020. As of Thursday, some 2.7 million people were infected, with 2.68 million isolated at home with either mild symptoms, or no symptoms at all.
Medical staff work in a COVID-19 intensive care unit at a hospital in Bologna, Italy, on Jan. 25, 2022. (Photo by Gianni Schicchi/Xinhua)
More than 7.6 million people have also recovered from the virus, while over 145,000 people have died, according to the Health Ministry. ■
