What is the cause of the outbreak in Italy?

The reason for the outbreak in Italy is:

1, only pay attention to China factor, and miss the prime time of epidemic prevention.

1 At the end of the year, when the epidemic situation in China was quite serious, only three Italians were initially diagnosed, two of whom were tourists from China. Italy was the first to implement the China travel ban.

At that time, Italian Prime Minister Conte was confident that Italy was the most active country in epidemic prevention in the European Union. He thought it would be all right to cut off contact with China, but he ignored the possibility of community infection.

Many experts analyzed that as early as the middle of 1 month, local infection should have appeared in northern Italy, when patients with fever came to see a doctor one after another. Time magazine reported that the head of the emergency room of a hospital in Codogno, Lombardy, told the media that there was a sudden increase in pneumonia patients in his hospital long before the first confirmed case appeared. But these cases were treated as common flu at that time.

The Guardian also mentioned that the 38-year-old man, known as the number one Italian patient, was not diagnosed many times because he had no contact with China, and it took the authorities 36 hours to get him tested. During this period, he infected many people, including medical staff.

2. Population aging and insufficient medical resources.

The Guardian reported that Italy's population is aging seriously, with the population over 65 accounting for about 23%, and the probability of infection and serious illness is relatively high.

In addition, according to Time magazine, although Italy has universal health insurance, there has always been a shortage of funds. The national public health budget only accounts for 6.8% of the gross national product, which is less than that of France, Germany and other EU countries.

In this case, coupled with the sudden influx of patients from COVID-19, the confirmed patients can only be placed in the operating room, corridor and recovery room of the hospital. Only a few patients can stay in the negative pressure ward or have the opportunity to use ventilation equipment and breathing apparatus. There is also a serious shortage of medical staff, and there are even reports of infection. If the number of patients continues to multiply, the Italian medical system will face collapse.

3, mistakenly believe that travel bans or city closures are foolproof.

In addition, according to the analysis, the China travel ban, which Italy prides itself on, may also have problems. A seemingly radical move may make the government careless and ignore that more people may fly to Italy from a third country. Many passengers did not report their travel history voluntarily for fear of being blocked from entering the customs, which made it difficult to determine where the source of infection came from at first.

In addition, a professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine told reporters that the closure of the city is only temporary, not long-lasting, and can only slow down the spread.