Italy sees drop in coronavirus cases and tests

Italy’s day-to-day new case numbers dropped for a second straight day, but so did the number of swab tests performed to detect coronavirus infections.

Italy’s day-to-day new case numbers dropped for a second straight day, but so did the number of swab tests performed to detect coronavirus infections.

Italian Local Police officer patrols and checks with people wear protective facemasks at the Spanish Steps square, in Rome on August 17, 2020 as Italy declared mandatory to wear a protective facemask in all places.(AFP photo)

According to Health Ministry figures on Monday, 320 coronavirus cases were registered since the previous day, and 30,666 swab tests were carried out at the end of Italy’s big summer holiday weekend.

Two days earlier, when Italy registered 629 case —the first time the daily caseload had topped 600 since May— there were more than 53,000 swab tests performed.

From the start of August, the number of hospitalized patients has climbed from just over 700 to 810 on Monday. Still, the situation is dramatically different than in the first weeks of the pandemic, when thousands of people in Italy were being hospitalized daily with Covid-19.

Infectious diseases experts fear that Italy’s caseload will tick upward again as many holiday-goers return from vacations abroad, including in Spain, where the climbing number of coronavirus infections lately has been stirring alarm.

Italy now records 254,235 confirmed Covid-19 cases. Four deaths were registered in the last 24 hours, raising the nation death toll in the pandemic to 35,400.