Coronavirus cases in Italy could be 10 times higher than reported: Officials

The number of coronavirus cases in Italy is probably 10 times higher than the official tally of more than 63,000, according to the head of the country’s civil protection agency. Italy is the worst-affected country by coronavirus in the world as the deadly virus has claimed more than 6,000 lives in the country, which is double the number of fatalities in China. It is believed that as the testing for the disease has been limited to the people seeking hospital care, thousands of cases have certainly gone undetected. 

While speaking to international media outlet, Borrelli said, “For every officially certificated positive, there are ten non-certified”. 

Borrelli believes that the total number of confirmed cases in Italy is nearly 640,000. He reportedly said that the biggest difficulty facing Italy is a shortage of masks and ventilators. Italy, however, is trying to import stocks from abroad but because of the global pandemic countries including India, Romani, Russia and Turkey have halted such sales. 

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‘Will send police’ 

Meanwhile, as leaders around the world are currently struggling to contain the deadly coronavirus outbreak and have been urging people to practice social distancing, an Italian mayor has said that the government ‘will call the police’ and ‘will send flame throwers’ if people still chose to defy the self-isolation rules. Despite the overwhelming growing fear of the fatal COVID-19 in Italy people have continued to disregard the precautionary measures proposed by the government. 

The violent request by Vincenzo De Luca to abide by the government’s rules and regulations follow its decision to impose a nation-wide lockdown resulting in the shut down of non-essential businesses and even suspension of travel within the country. This comes as the coronavirus infections in the country rise to 63,927 with more than 6,000 fatalities. This has urged several Italian leaders to address the violators of the lockdown and repeating the harsh realities that could impact them if they continue with their behaviour of having get-togethers during the time of crisis.

(With ANI inputs) 

(Image credits: AP)

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