Italy reported 126,888 new coronavirus infections in a single day, marking the first time the country has seen more than 100,000 cases in a single day. On Wednesday, a previous high of 98,030 instances was recorded.
According to the news agency, the surge on Thursday was the biggest in a single day throughout the two years of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The statistic released on Thursday represents more than 2% of the almost 6 million infections reported since the outbreak began. The high number in Italy is part of a wider European trend, spurred mostly by the virus’s highly transmissible Omicron strain.
Italy is third in the European Union in terms of total Covid-19 infections, trailing only France and Germany.
Despite a generally successful vaccination deployment, the number of cases is rising. Nearly 86 percent of the country’s population over the age of 12 had been properly vaccinated as of Thursday.
According to Italy’s National Agency for Regional Health Services, Covid patients occupied 10% of intensive care beds on December 17, but that number has risen to 13% in the last two days.
On Wednesday, 136 more Covid deaths were reported, compared to 202 on Tuesday. Intensive care cases grew by 40 to 1,185 across the country, while hospital admissions increased by 489 to 10,578.
Source: www.thelocal.it
