“The strength the virus had two months ago is not the same strength it has today,” said Matteo Bassetti, head of the infectious diseases clinic at the San Martino hospital in the city of Genoa.
ROME – As the lockdown restrictions around the world are slowly being loosened, Italy (a country who was hit the hardest by Covid-19) is noticing that the novel coronavirus is weakening.
“In reality, the virus clinically no longer exists in Italy,” A statement made by Alberto Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan.
“The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago,” Zangrillo said
Opposition to the idea that the coronavirus is weakening
There has been opposition to the idea that the coronavirus is weakening.
According to Maria van Kerkhove, the technical lead at WHO, the coronavirus continues to infect people at the same rate as when the pandemic started, and the same proportion of people — about 20% — develop severe cases.
“Pending scientific evidence to support the thesis that the virus has disappeared … I would invite those who say they are sure of it not to confuse Italians,” stated Sandra Zampa, an undersecretary at the health ministry, reported by Reuters.
“We should instead invite Italians to maintain the maximum caution, maintain physical distancing, avoid large groups, to frequently wash their hands and to wear masks.”
Riccardo De Luca/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
Furthermore executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, Michael Ryan commented that it is unlikely that the virus has mutated.
“It may not be that the virus itself is becoming less potent,” Ryan said. “It may be that we are — as a community and as a global community — successfully reducing the number, intensity, and frequency of exposure to the virus, which, on the face of it, the virus then looks weaker.”
H/T: Reuters, Business Insider