Covid incidence drops in Italy: in the period 21-27 December it was 70 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants, a decrease compared to the period 14-20 December (103 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants). This is what emerges from the weekly monitoring of the Higher Institute of Health and the Ministry of Health. “This decline – we read – could, in part, be attributable to a reduced frequency of diagnoses carried out during holidays”.
The transmissibility index (Rt) based on cases with hospitalization – indicates the report – as of December 19th it is below the epidemic threshold, equal to 0.76 (0.73-0.79), down from the previous week when it was 0.96 (0.93-0.99) as of December 12.
The weekly incidence of diagnosed and reported Covid cases is decreasing in most autonomous regions/provinces compared to the previous week, the report continues. The highest incidence was reported in Abruzzo (149 cases per 100 thousand inhabitants), the lowest in Sicily (3 cases/100 thousand inhabitants).
The age group that records the highest weekly incidence rate is the over 90s. The weekly incidence is essentially stable in all age groups. The median age at diagnosis is 59 years, stable compared to previous weeks. The percentage of reinfections is around 45%, substantially stable compared to the previous week.
Hospitalization trend improves
Positive signs also on the hospitalization front. As of 27 December, the occupancy of beds in the medical area was 11% (6,834 hospitalised), a slight decrease compared to the previous week (11.8% as of 20 December); the occupancy of intensive care beds was 3.2% (281 hospitalized), substantially stable compared to the previous week (3.1%). Hospitalization and mortality rates increase with age – confirms the report – presenting the highest values in the over 90 age group. The rate of ICU admission also increases with age.
JN.1 variant rises to 37%
The JN.1 variant also runs in Italy of Sars-CoV-2, 'daughter' of BA.2.86 or Pirola, and recently declared a variant of independent concern by the World Health Organization. “Based on the sequencing data available on the national I-Co-Gen platform as of 25 December – we read in the Monitoring – the proportion of sequencing attributable to the JN.1 variant of interest is confirmed to be growing, becoming the most frequent variant in the last week of consolidated sampling (37.1% in the week 4-10 December)”. “Based on the data currently available – the experts point out – JN.1 does not appear to pose additional risks to public health compared to other circulating lineages”.
#Covid #Italy #incidence #hospitalizations #decreasing #week39s #data