Tests: 2.5% of Italians had COVID-19, far more in the north

Antibody testing in Italy indicates that nearly 1.5 million people, or about 2.5% of population, have h coronavirus. But officials said Monday that huge geographic variations in results confirmed a nationwide lockdown was “absolutely crucial” to preventing country's south from getting slammed as bly as its rth.

Health Ministry and national statistics ncy based ir assessment on tests performed May 25-July 15 on a sample of nearly 65,000 Italians selected for ir location, and of work. government carried out testing to understand how widely virus circulated in first country in West to be overwhelmed by COVID-19, given that bulk of confirmed cases and deaths occurred in rrn Italy.

sampling indicated that 1.482 million Italians nationwide h come into contact with virus and developed an immulogical response to it, six times more than Italy’s reported number of confirmed cases, said Linda Laura Sabbini, a director at Italian National Institute of Statistics, or ISTAT.

But re were significant geographic disparities: An estimated 7.5% of Lombardy region's residents h virus antibodies versus 1.9% in neighboring Veneto. Within Lombardy, sharp differences also emerged from province to province: Some 24% of Bergamo residents developed virus antibodies, but only 5.1% of residents did a few provinces over in Pavia.

variations were even more stark when compared to sourn Italy: Only 0.3% of residents in Sicily came into contact with virus, and less than 1% of residents h virus antibodies in a half-dozen or sourn regions.

Dr. Franco Locatelli, a key government viser on pandemic, said geographic variability in results showed that Italy’s three-month nationwide lockdown was “absolutely crucial to sparing central and sourn Italy from same epidemiological wave that hit rth.”

Italy’s lockdown was among strictest in Europe, with residents ordered to venture out only for unavoidable work, medical appointments or or necessities such as grocery shopping. aim was to prevent health care system in less-developed south from being overwhelmed, as occurred in prosperous Lombardy. Police checkpoints, fines and cellphone data tracking were used to impress upon Italians need to stay home.

Locatelli said results also indicated that 27.3% of people with virus experienced symptoms, demonstrating need for continued social distancing and mask requirements. He stressed that tests were t looking at wher antibodies provided protection against virus going forward, just tested individuals h come into contact with virus.

Numerous countries have also conducted tests to try to determine how many people may have been infected with virus, including Austria, Germany, Spain, France, and U.K. Most countries have found prevalence levels of about 5% to 15%.

After starting out as epicenter of pandemic in Europe, Italy has largely contained spre of virus. For past few weeks, it has registered some 200-300 new confirmed cases each day, many of m imported by returning workers or migrants. On Monday, it ded 159 confirmed cases and ar 12 deaths.

antibody test results also suggest that Italy’s COVID-19 death toll, which stood at 35,166 as of Monday, is in line with an estimated 2.3% mortality rate for virus globally, Locatelli said.

tests were originally supposed to be conducted on some 150,000 Italians in 2,000 cities and towns nationwide. However, Red Cross ran into resistance from some Italians who declined to participate since a positive test for antibodies required an automatic quarantine and test to see if y still h virus.