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People walk at Piazza del Popolo in Rome, Italy, on March 6, 2020.(Photo by Alberto Lingria/Xinhua)
As of Saturday, Italy's accumulated cases since the new coronavirus outbreak, including death toll and recoveries, totaled 5,883.
ROME, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Italy's health authorities on Saturday urged people to strictly follow the rules imposed to contain the spread of the coronavirus as confirmed cases reached 5,061.
As of Saturday, the country's accumulated cases since the new coronavirus outbreak, including death toll and recoveries, totaled 5,883.
"It shows an increase of 1,145 infections (over the previous day)," Civil Protection Department chief Angelo Borrelli, who serves as extraordinary commissioner for the coronavirus emergency, told a televised press conference at 6 p.m. local time.
Latest data showed that a total of 589 people have recovered, an increase of 66 from Friday. There were also 36 new fatalities, bringing the death toll to 233.
A passenger is seen in a train to the north in Rome, Italy, on March 6, 2020.(Photo by Alberto Lingria/Xinhua)
"It must be specified this is partially due to the situation in Lombardy (region), where over 300 people had been tested positive at the laboratory in Brescia in the previous days, and were yet to be registered," he added.
As for the health conditions of the 5,061 who tested positive, the commissioner said 2,651 were currently hospitalized, another 567 were in intensive care, and 1,843 who were asymptomatic or with light symptoms were in isolation at home.
"In terms of percentage, the number of people currently in intensive care has not increased compared to the total of positive cases, staying at around 10 percent," Borrelli explained.
The commissioner also said places in intensive care units in northern Lombardy region -- the most hit by the epidemic so far -- were getting scarce, and thus some patients with COVID-19 might soon be moved from there to other regions where beds in the same units were available.
Paramedics walk into a tent outside the Brescia Civilians Hospital in Brescia, Italy, March 3, 2020.(Xinhua)
Also on Saturday, 54-year-old Nicola Zingaretti, governor of the Lazio region, announced that he tested positive for the coronavirus.
Zingaretti, who is also leader of Italy's Democratic Party, confirmed it in a video posted on Facebook, explaining that he would remain in isolation at home as required by health protocols, trying to work as much as possible.
INDIVIDUAL ROLE CRUCIAL
At the daily press conference, health authorities urged Italians to scrupulously follow all preventive rules and recommendations adopted by the government earlier this week to contain the epidemic.
The new rules included a ban to all cultural events, including those in cinema and theaters, unless they could guarantee "the compliance with the interpersonal safety distance of at least one meter."
The same safety measures were also recommended to all people in their daily social life.
"Individual measures to limit social contacts are crucial at this moment in order to be able to fight the virus, and we appeal to the sense of responsibility of everyone," Silvio Brusaferro, president of Italy's National Health Institute (ISS), said at the press conference.
Brusaferro explained the most common symptoms registered in patients who tested positive to COVID-19 and died were two, namely sudden fever and dyspnoea (or difficult to breath).
"This is stated in an ISS analysis of data on 155 Italian patients who have died up to March 6," the expert said.
In a related statement published on its website on Saturday, the ISS further stated that "fever and dyspnoea are present as onset symptoms in 86 percent and 82 percent of the cases examined respectively."
Less common initial symptoms were cough (50 percent), diarrhoea and haemoptysis (5 percent), it added.
"Such data suggest that alerting family doctor while remaining at home is enough for those showing only fever, while those presenting both symptoms would better contact (emergency hotlines) 112 or 118, and -- in any case -- absolutely avoid going to their family doctor or any hospital emergency room," Brusaferro stressed.
The ISS president said the ongoing ISS studies were showing that infected patients who have died so far were "mainly elderly with an average age of 81, some 80 percent of which had more than two pathologies, some 60 percent had more than three, and only 2 had no other disease."
Meanwhile, Italian authorities launched a plan for hiring 20,000 new medical professionals, including some 4,800 doctors and 10,000 nurses, in the public health system.
"At the cabinet meeting last night (Friday) we have approved the extraordinary plan to hire and invest in the healthcare staff," Health Minister Roberto Speranza said in a statement on Saturday.
"This is a strong response from the State, which will have a significant impact on our ability to deal with the emergency."
"Yet, I must be clear: this effort will not suffice without the personal engagement of every single citizen in respecting the recommendations we have made," said the minister.