ROME – The number of new positive cases of the coronavirus in Italy stands at 1,210 in the last 24 hours and seven more people have died, according to data from the Ministry of Health.

 For the second day running, new daily infections were more than one thousand after 1,071 cases were declared on Saturday. The increase comes despite a lower amount of tests being carried out in respect to Saturday, with 10,000 fewer swabs taken on Sunday.

 This is the highest number of new positive cases in Italy since May 4 with the region of Lombardy declaring the most new infections at 239, reports Il fatto quotidiano. The region’s welfare assessor, Giulio Gallera, explained this statistic, saying “190 of the cases are people under the age of 50. Two thirds of the positive cases are citizens coming back into the country from abroad and their direct contacts.”

 The region of Lazio had the second highest amount of new cases with 184 where similarly the individuals tend to be those returning from holidays. Sixty per cent of Lazio’s new cases are connected to people coming back from holidays, primarily from Spain, Greece, Sardinia, Puglia and Ukraine, reports Il fatto quotidiano. Elsewhere in the southern region of Campania, the number of new positive cases more than doubled from 60 on Saturday to 138 on Sunday.

 Ex-Juventus, Bosnian footballer Miralem Pjanic announced that he had contracted the virus as well as manager of Serie A side Bologna, the Serbian Sinisa Mihajlovic. Mihajlovic’s announcement caused concern as the manager had announced in 2019 that he was suffering from leukemia and had only been able to attend all his side’s games later on in the season. However, a post on the Instagram from his daughter suggested that her father was well and asymptomatic. The Bologna manager is also expected to have caught the virus while holidaying on the Costa Smeralda in Sardinia, a popular summer destination for the footballing world. 

 The recent increase in cases in Italy over the summer holiday period has caused worry in Italy that they may have to reintroduce the strict lockdown experienced during the easter months. However, Health Minister Roberto Speranza batted back the prospect in an interview with La Repubblica, saying “our country is not in the conditions for which one has to activate those measures. Citing the fact that last week the average age of those contracting the virus had gone down to 30, Speranza stated “this means that many people don’t even need medical attention.”

 The Italian subsecretary for health, Sandra Zampa, discussed the need for preparation and vigilance in the face of the oncoming Autumn months and the much-discussed return of schools. Speaking in an interview with Corriere della sera, Zampa warned “The days of spending time outside are coming to an end and we are facing up to the months of closed environments that increase the transmission of the virus.” On the issue of Italian children going back to school Zampa admitted “It’s a gigantic challenge that we hope to conquer without having to turn backwards like other countries.” In Germany it was announced on Monday that more than 100 schools would be closing once more after cases jumped over 2,000 new infections in a day. The country had only reopened its schools on Aug. 16 but incidents of Coronavirus infections were reported in over 41 schools.  

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