Preventive Measures in Italy Saved 2 Lakh Hospitalizations

In a preventive measure against the deadly coronavirus (COVID-19), mobility restrictions implemented by the Italian government have avoided at least 200,000 hospitalisations.

With stringent mobility restrictions implemented against COVID-19 by the Italian government, the contagion transmission was reduced by 45 per cent, say researchers.

"If the restrictions had not been implemented, the hospitalisations would have been about 200,000 thus exceeding our hospitals’ capacity," said study lead author Marino Gatto, Professor at Politecnico di Milano, a University in Italy.

‘COVID-19 Outbreak: Due to implementation of proper preventive measures, number of hospitalizations in Italy reduced significantly.’
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According to the study, published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers have constructed the first spatial model of COVID-19 spread in Italy accounting for both the time evolution of the infection in local communities and their geographical distribution and including the individuals’ mobility to and from work and study-places.

The spatial resolution is at the level of provinces. The Istat census has been used to estimate pre-epidemic mobility, while the reduction of mobility due to restrictions has been estimated from an independent study based on mobile phones geolocalisation.

The map of infections has been contrasted with data and the model turns out to be quite accurate. Therefore, it can be used to provide scenarios regarding future governmental measures, they said.

By analysing the contagion map, scientists have found that the epidemic has initially spread quite rapidly along with the main transportation infrastructures of their country.

"We have updated the model using the most recent data. Our projections confirm a further decrease of new infections in the next weeks if the current containment measures are maintained," said study co-author Enrico Bertuzzo.

Coronavirus
Coronaviruses infect animals, humans, and birds. Human coronaviruses, such as SARS, MERS, and 2019-nCoV cause respiratory distress and even death. The S protein is the infectious agent of the virus.

"We can conclude that the quite restrictive measures enforced since March 10, whose effect is only partially accounted for in the study (concluded at March 25), are responsible for the continuous decrease of the infections that we are observing right now," Gatto said.

The coronavirus pandemic has claimed over 23,000 lives in locked-down Italy, bringing the total number of infections, fatalities and recoveries so far to 175,925, according to the latest data released by the country’s Civil Protection Department on Saturday.

Source-IANS