This picture taken on March 23, 2020 in Rome, shows a view of the Colosseum monument along a deserted Via dei Fori Imperiali during the country's lockdown aimed at stopping the spread of the COVID-19 (new coronavirus) pandemic. , / AFP / Filippo MONTEFORT
Italy may have 10 times the number of virus cases than officially reported, the emergency chief Angelo Borrelli told daily La Repubblica in an interview.
"It is credible to estimate that there are 10 positive casesfor every one officially reported.” Borrelli told the newspaper. That would raise the total number to over 600,000, the newspaper reported.
Italy reported 601 new deaths from the coronavirus on Monday, posting a decline for a second day, as the country enters its third week of lockdown measures designed to keep the spread of the disease in check.
Total cases in the country rose to 63,927, civil protection officials said, while the hard-hit Lombardy region around Milan, which accounts for about half of the nation’s infections, registered a decrease in the number of hospitalized virus patients, top health official Giulio Gallera said Monday.
According to Borrelli, the security measures taken by the Italian government two weeks ago are beginning to have an effect. " In the next few hours we will see if the growth curve is really starting to flatten,” he said.
