ROME, April 17 (Xinhua) -- The coronavirus pandemic has claimed 22,745 lives in locked-down Italy, bringing the total number of cases, including fatalities and recoveries, so far to 172,434, according to the latest data released by the country's Civil Protection Department on Friday.
Addressing a televised press conference, Civil Protection Department Chief Angelo Borrelli said the virus has claimed another 575 lives over the past 24 hours, bringing the country's death toll to 22,745 since the pandemic first broke out in northern Italy on Feb. 21.
Borrelli explained a record high was registered in the daily number of people cured -- 2,563 more recoveries, taking the total to 42,727.
"It (the daily increase) is the highest figure ever registered since the beginning of the emergency," the official stressed.
A total of 355 new active coronavirus infections were also registered, bringing the nationwide total to 106,962.
Of those infected, 2,812 patients are in intensive care -- down by 124 compared to the previous day, another 25,786 are hospitalized -- down by 1,107, and 78,364 are isolated at home because of asymptomatic or light symptoms.
POSITIVE LOCKDOWN EFFECTS
At the same press conference, president of Italy's Higher Health Council (CSS) Franco Locatelli said the strict measures imposed with the current nationwide lockdown brought good results.
"Only 5.35 percent of the swabs carried out so far are positive, which means the social distancing and the lockdown have contained the epidemic," he told reporters.
This helped avoid the virus spread largely in the central and southern regions of Italy, a fact that "has now been solidly corroborated by evidence provided by the figures," according to Locatelli.
Another proof of the positive effects of lockdown, the expert added, could be found in the gradual decrease of patients hospitalized.
"If we look at the number of hospitalizations, we see that there were about 4,060 patients in intensive care on April 3, and today this number has dropped to about 2,800," he said.
Up to Friday, some 1,244,108 swabs were carried out across the country, according to latest data by the Health Ministry.
LATEST EPIDEMIOLOGICAL INSIGHTS
Earlier in the day, the country's National Health Institute (ISS) held a press briefing to provide other insights at epidemiological level, based on statistics updated until April 16.
"The (epidemiological) curve shows us ... the history of a country with different areas, meaning with a different intensity of circulation of the virus, and a decreasing level of positivity nationwide," ISS president Silvio Brusaferro explained.
He added that even in Lombardy -- which remains Italy's most affected region -- the curve showed a decreasing trend.
This, however, should not lead people to think the coronavirus would stop circulating in the near future, according to the ISS chief epidemiologist Giovanni Rezza.
"The virus will likely continue to circulate, although at a lower intensity," said Rezza, also director of the ISS Infectious Diseases Department.
Rezza explained the complete lockdown, by reducing the number of infections, helped "artificially create a peak (in the epidemiological curve)."
"This means the population remains largely susceptible (to the coronavirus), and that what has happened a month or two ago could happen again, if we will not keep our guard up," he warned.
An issue still not fully clear to ISS experts was "how the infections that occurred after the implementation of the lockdown have concretely happened, and in what ways."
"We know there have been outbreak in hospitals... and others probably linked to intra-family transmission. Yet, there is still a need for information on this, and the contact-tracing project... is going to try to fill this gap," Rezza explained.
PLAN FOR CONTACT-TRACING APP
Less than 24 hours before the latest ISS epidemiological update, Italian authorities gave green light to an announced plan to use a contact-tracing app to help fight the pandemic once the lockdown eased.
On Thursday night, Commissioner for the Coronavirus Emergency Domenico Arcuri signed a specific decree that allowed the assignment of a government contract to Milan-based company Bending Spoons, which has developed the app and offered it free of charge for the coronavirus emergency.
Called "Immuni", the app would be used on voluntary basis only and anonymously. It is based on Bluetooth -- with no geo-localization, to record the mobile phone users' movements. Enditem
