Covid-19 weekly monitoring, report of March 1

For the sixth consecutive week, a worsening in the general level of epidemic risk in Italy has been reported, with a further acceleration in the increase in incidence at national level, and an increasing average Rt, compared to the previous week and above the epidemic threshold.

Because of such trend, it is likely that the threshold of 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants at national level has been exceeded during the current week, and that this could be documented with consolidated data during the next week of assessment (covering the period March 8-14, 2021).

There is a sharp increase in the number of people admitted to intensive care with occupancy rates nationally having exceeded the critical threshold.

A similar trend is observed for medical areas. The high incidence, increased transmissibility and heavy overloading of hospital services require national mitigation measures to be stepped up/increased, including anticipating further mitigation/containment in areas with the highest prevalence and particularly where variants 501.V2 (South African variant) - lineage B.1.351 and lineage P.1 (former lineage B.1.1.248 identified in Manaus, Brazil) are circulating.

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