Covid infections in Italy have now broken through the quota of 140 thousand per day, thanks to the Omicron variant that is rampant in the world. Meanwhile, in our country, spotlights are on on the new rules that have been defined for quarantine after contact with positive and on the passage in the yellow zone of other 4 regions: this time the color change will concern Lazio, Lombardy, Piedmont and Sicily, which from tomorrow Monday 3 January they leave the white zone. The 4 regions raise the total of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces in the yellow band to 11.
The passage in the yellow zone involves the obligation to wear a mask outdoors, an obligation that was subsequently established by decree for the whole national territory. The situation is different for the passage in the orange zone which involves more restrictive rules and measures.
Some Regions, despite being in yellow, are already adopting more restrictive measures in relation to some specific areas of the territories. The latest in order of time is Calabria, an ordinance signed by the president of the Calabria Region Roberto Occhiuto established that from today until 9 January 2022 the Municipalities of Campo Calabro, Cinquefrondi, Ferruzzano, Galatro will pass in the ‘orange zone’. Laureana di Borrello, Melicucco, Rizziconi, Roghudi, Rosarno, San Roberto and Taurianova, all in the province of Reggio Calabria.
Yesterday the bulletin of the Civil Protection and Ministry of Health recorded 141,262 new infections and another 111 deaths, with a positive rate of 13%. Good news on the vaccine front: in the extended report on the trend of Covid in Italy, the ISS reports that the effectiveness of anti Covid vaccines against serious disease is 97% with the booster dose.
VACCINE EFFECTIVENESS – “The effectiveness in preventing the diagnosis and cases of severe disease – we read – rises respectively to 86.6% and 97.0% in subjects vaccinated with an additional dose / booster”. “The vaccine efficacy in preventing cases of severe disease remains high, as the vaccine efficacy in vaccinated with a complete course of less than 90 days and between 91 and 120 days is respectively 95.7% and 92.6 %, while it drops to 88% in vaccinated people who have completed the vaccination cycle for more than 120 days “is written in the Report.
OVER 80 – In the past month, the hospitalization rate in the over-80 range for the unvaccinated (568 per 100,000) is eight times higher than for fully vaccinated less than 120 days and 41 times higher than for vaccinated with boosters, he reports. the Iss. The death rate in the ‘over 80’ group, in the period from November 5 to December 5, in the unvaccinated is about ten times higher than in vaccinated with a full cycle within 120 days and 64 times higher than in vaccinated with dose additional / booster.
MINORS – In the last week there is an increase in the incidence in all age groups: in particular in the population aged 12-19 and the age group under 12 years. “In the 6-11 age group, starting from the second week of October, there is a greater increase in the incidence compared to the rest of the school-age population, with a surge in the last few weeks. a surge in incidence for the 16-19 age group “explains the ISS.
VACCINE DOSES GIVEN – The doses of the anti Covid vaccine administered in Italy are 111,199,243. This is what emerges from the Vaccini Anti Covid-19 report of the extraordinary commissioner for the health emergency updated at 19.17 today. The total with at least one dose is 48,059,745 (88.98% of the over 12 population), the number of people who have completed the vaccination cycle stands at 46,375,042 (85.86% of the over 12 population) while the total additional dose / booster amounted to 19,597,153 people (63.21% of the population potentially subject to an additional dose or booster who completed the vaccination cycle for at least five months).
The total with at least one dose + recovered for a maximum of 6 months is equal to 48,466,928 (89.74% of the population over 12). As for the 5-11 year olds, there are 312,659 children with at least one dose (8.55% of the 5-11 population). 320 have completed the vaccination cycle (0.01% of the population 5-11). The total number of healed was 125,525 (3.43% of the population 5-11 healed for a maximum of 6 months).
FORTY– On the new rules for covid quarantine, the director general of Prevention of the Ministry of Health, Giovanni Rezza, signed the circular of ‘Update on quarantine and isolation measures following the global spread of the new variant Voc Sars-CoV-2 Omicron (B.1.1.529) ‘.
“The first data on the efficacy of vaccines against the Omicron variant” of Sars-CoV-2, we read in the premise of the circular, “suggest that it would be able to reduce the efficacy of vaccines against infection, transmission and symptomatic disease, especially in those who have completed the two-dose course for more than 120 days. The third dose would, however, restore the efficacy of vaccines to levels comparable to those against the Delta variant, providing good protection against severe disease “. “For these reasons – it is specified – it is appropriate to promote the administration of the third booster dose and to differentiate the measures envisaged for the duration and the end of the quarantine both on the basis of the time elapsed since the completion of the primary vaccination cycle and the administration of the dose booster “.
THE NEW RULES – As regards the chapter ‘Quarantine and its alternative modalities’, the document distinguishes between “close (high risk) contacts” and “low risk contacts”. Among the high-risk contacts there are 4 groups.
The first group includes “subjects not vaccinated or who have not completed the primary vaccination course (ie they have received only one vaccine dose of the two planned) or who have completed the primary vaccination course for less than 14 days”: for them it remains The current quarantine measure envisaged for 10 days from the last exposure to the case remains unchanged, at the end of which period a molecular or antigenic test is performed with a negative result “.
The second group concerns “subjects who have completed the primary vaccination cycle for more than 120 days and who still have a valid Green pass: if” they are “asymptomatic, the quarantine lasts 5 days, provided that at the end of this period a molecular or antigen test has been performed with a negative result “.
The third group includes “asymptomatic subjects who have received the booster dose, or have completed the primary vaccination course in the previous 120 days, or have recovered from Sars-CoV-2 infection in the previous 120 days”: for them “does not apply. quarantine and it is mandatory to wear respiratory protection devices of type Ffp2 for at least 10 days from the last exposure to the case. The self-surveillance period ends on day 5. A rapid antigen test is scheduled o molecular for the detection of the Sars-Cov-2 antigen at the first appearance of symptoms and, if still symptomatic, on the fifth day following the date of the last close contact with subjects confirmed positive for Covid-19 “.
In the fourth group there are “health workers”, who “have to perform swabs on a daily basis up to the fifth day from the last contact with an infected person”.
As for low-risk contacts, “if they have always worn surgical masks or Ffp2”, according to the ministerial circular, “quarantine is not necessary, but the common hygienic-sanitary precautions must be maintained. If it was not possible to guarantee use of the mask, these contacts will have to undergo passive surveillance “.
Then there is the ‘Isolation’ chapter, relating to Covid-19 positive people: “As for infected subjects who have previously received the booster dose, or who have completed the vaccination cycle for less than 120 days – it reads – the isolation can be reduced from 10 to 7 days, provided that they have always been asymptomatic, or have been asymptomatic for at least 3 days, and on the condition that, at the end of this period, a molecular or antigen test is performed with a negative result “.
#Covid #Italy #Omicron #variant #Regions #yellow #zone #tomorrow