JAKARTA - The increase in cases of the corona virus or COVID-19 in Italy has surprised various groups. This is because when in China - which is the first country where COVID-19 was discovered - now cases tend to fall. In fact, the virus is spreading more and more in other countries.
Recent reports say that there are 232 cases of COVID-19 in Italy. A total of 7 people were declared dead as a result of this case and 1 person was successfully cured.
In a press conference, Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO) Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said WHO was worried about the situation in the Islamic Republic of Iran and Italy.
However, Ghebreyesus said the outbreak had not yet reached pandemic levels. A pandemic is an epidemic that has spread across several countries or continents, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
"There is a lot of speculation about whether this increase means that this epidemic has now become a pandemic. Does this virus have the potential to become a pandemic? Of course. Have we reached that level? From our assessment, not yet," said Ghebreyesus.
WHO also announced that a team plans to visit Iran and a different team will also visit Italy.
Italian authorities said they had yet to find the country's first carrier of the virus, or what it calls 'patient zero'. Not only the Italian authorities, experts also do not know why Italy, a country that is taking early preventive measures, could experience this outbreak.
Italy is the first European Union country to ban flights to and from China. Although the WHO opposed the flight ban, many countries have followed Italy's lead in banning travel to and from China.
"We still cannot identify patient zero, so it is difficult to predict the possibility of new cases," said Angelo Borrelli, head of the Italian Civil Protection Agency, quoted by CNN.
The first person infected with COVID-19 was a researcher at Unilever. He developed symptoms of COVID-19 after attending a dinner where a colleague had recently returned from China. However, after an examination, his friend was negative for COVID-19.
On the other hand, virologist Ilaris Capua from the University of Florida said that Italy, which has tested more than 3,000 people for patient zero, may have a high number of cases because they are "actively looking for COVID-19 sufferers".
Italy's neighboring countries are starting to take precautions to prevent COVID-19 from spreading. The French Health Ministry advised anyone returning from Italy's Lombardy region, where cases of COVID-19 are common, to wear a mask in French public spaces.
Meanwhile, Austria suspended train services from the Alps to Italy for four hours on Sunday, February 23, 2020. This was done because two tourists from Germany admitted to having a fever. After being tested, the two tourists tested negative for COVID-19.
Action of the Italian Government
Security measures were stepped up after a 78-year-old man from Veneto, Italy, who was infected with COVID-19 died. A postmortem carried out on a 77-year-old woman in Lombardy, confirmed that she too was infected with COVID-19. However, it is unclear whether COVID-19 caused his death.
The woman has reportedly recovered from pneumonia and visited the emergency room of a hospital in Codogno, hours after a 38-year-old man caught COVID-19 and passed it.
But Italy has also adopted what could be said to be cruel. According to The Guardian, the country is trying to stop the COVID-19 outbreak by imposing fines on anyone caught entering or leaving the outbreak area.
Police patrol 11 cities, mostly patrolling Lombardy, which has been in isolation since the evening of Friday 21 February 2020. When the isolation was determined, there were victims who died from COVID-19 in the city.
Schools and universities have also closed across the region and communities are advised to work from home. In addition, the museum has also been closed, high-profile events such as concerts and sporting events have also been canceled.
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