A specialized report reported that hospitalizations in Italy for COVID-19 increased by 7.9% during the week of March 7–13. Hospitalized patients presented with respiratory failure or pneumonia. It was also reported that admissions of people who came to hospitals for treatment of other pathologies and were found to have the SARS-CoV-2 virus but without symptoms of the condition increased by 4.8%. According to the report, people infected with the coronavirus who were admitted to health centers during those seven days have an average age of 69 years, and 75.0% of the cases had been vaccinated more than six months ago.
The report highlights that, for the first time in intensive care, there are only cases hospitalized for COVID-19 that arrived at the health facilities for complications of this disease and not for any other condition. In recent weeks, there have been fluctuations in both the number of cases and admissions, but in general, there is evidence of greater control of the pandemic in Italy. The Gimbe Foundation, which specializes in health analysis, reported that between the 3rd and 9th of this month, COVID-19 infections in Italy fell by 10.1%, with 23,963 cases, down from 26,658 the previous week, while deaths fell from 228 to 216, for a decrease of 5.3 points.
In addition, according to the calculations of that institution, admissions to general wards fell by 10.2% from 3,297 to 2,962, and in intensive care, the drop was 24.1 percentage points with only 104 patients, 33 less than in the previous seven days. Despite this, the report emphasizes that the pandemic has not been completely controlled in the country and preventive measures must continue to be taken to avoid further spread of the virus.