Italy's Covid infections falling but remain high

Rome, Feb 4 (IANS) Italy has recorded 112,691 new infections on Thursday, a decrease of some 6,300 compared to the previous day and a reduction of more than 20,000 compared to two days earlier.After plateauing for weeks, weekly totals for Italy's Covid-19 infections dropped over the last seven-day period, Xinhua news agency reported, citing data from health monitoring entity GIMBE Foundation.The foundation, which bases its calculations on data supplied by Italy's Ministry of Health, reported that after several weeks of increases, the weekly totals of new infections had held steady at 1.2 million for three weeks in January, but the latest figures totalled over 900,000 for January 26-February 1, recording a decrease of 24.9 per cent.The total number of currently positive cases also fell, though by only 7.9 per cent, the foundation reported.In an encouraging sign, the number of new cases fell in nearly all regions, ranging from a decline of 7 per cent in the central Italian region of Molise to a 46.9-per cent fall in the neighbouring region of Apulia.The foundation also noted that the number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care units is decreasing: the total was 1,717 for the week ending January 17 and 1,549 for the week ending February 1.
--IANS int/shs

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