Italy’s rising death toll overwhelms morgues as virus kills 8,000
BERGAMO: The Italian city at the center of Thursday’s coronavirus pandemic sent more of its deaths to neighboring towns for cremation as the country’s world-leading toll reached 8000.
Rome officials reported 662 new deaths and 6,153 infections— mostly in line with the statistics released over the week.
The rise in daily deaths fell to the lowest point in the crisis— 8.8 per cent— while for the fourth day running the infection rate stood at around eight per cent.
But the numbers don’t drop any further and Italians appear to come to terms with the fact that two weeks of life under lockdown hasn’t made the disease go away.
“Until we see this damn rate drop, we will have to continue making very hard sacrifices,” deputy civil protection service chief Agostino Miozzo said in reference to strict containment measures.
Italy’s death toll for coronavirus now stands at 8,165 — more than in second-placed Spain and China, where the virus originated in December, combined.
