CAMPOBASSO - the second wave of the pandemic has struck the region of Molise, which is now overwhelmed by the virus, according to il Fatto Quotidiano. The hospitals have no more beds and patients are being transported to other regions. 

  In the last five months, Molise has been engulfed by the ongoing pandemic, with  9,560 new cases and 318 deaths. In recent weeks, the situation has deteriorated: a quarter of the municipalities are in the red zone and in past few days there have been 8 patients transferred to other regions because the hospitals are saturated. The director of the Asrem hospital, Ortese Florenzano, is reported to have admitted that: “we are in serious difficulty.” 

  Italy's smallest region, Molise, was barely touched by Covid during the first wave, yet now it finds itself in a very precarious position. It has been forced to close itself off to try and contain the spread of the virus and to ask for help from outside to treat its patients. While a field hospital is being set up, the private health service is stepping in to try to compensate for the limitations of the public health service. The spread of the English variant is causing this region to be put under even more pressure.

  There is a shortage of places in intensive and sub-intensive care, so seriously ill patients are being transferred out of the region. The region asked the Civil Protection for help, and the latter set up Cross, the remote health emergency operations centre in Pistoia, to organise the transfer of eight seriously ill patients to Grosseto, Rome, Foggia and Cesena. In March, we were the ones who welcomed the sick in Bergamo, now we need support.” 

  Health Minister Roberto Speranza ordered the orange zone last Sunday, but in reality a quarter of the region is in the red zone. Governor Donato Toma has ordered the most restrictive measures in 33 out of 136 municipalities. When the number of Covid patients in intensive care exceeds 13, transfers have to be made, as has happened in recent days. 

  Work is underway to set up the field hospital in Termoli: 24 beds that will be managed by the Red Cross. "Non-Covid patients currently in hospitals will be transferred there," Florenzano explains. In this way, an equal number of in-patient beds will be "created" in wards that can be converted into sub-intensive and intensive care. 

  From Christmas Eve to the present day, Molise has had to manage more than 4,000 cases and has seen the number of hospitalised patients rise from 60 on Dec. 23 to 121 on Feb. 23. In the same period, the number of deaths has risen from 177 to 341. In the last few weeks alone, the number of Covid patients in hospital has risen from 82 to the maximum available and 44 people have lost their lives. 

  The second wave has also violently hit Milan, with 547 positive cases reported in the past week. The number of cases in the capital city of Lombardy has increased fivefold since the start of January. 

  Schools have been shut all over Italy, in order to try and manage the virus and the spreading of variants, meaning that education is once again going online. In Friuli Venezia Giulia, for instance, the English variant has broken out in Gradisca d'Isonzo. More than 500 pupils, from kindergarten to middle school, about eighty teachers, caretakers and secretarial staff are at home until March 8. 

In Lombardy, the new councillor Letizia Moratti announced the closure of schools in some areas, with the need for “smart working” from home, where possible.In Liguria, schools of all levels will be closed for Covid in Sanremo and Ventimiglia until March 5.

  In Tuscany, the most critical areas are in Siena, where the middle and high schools have been closed. After acquiring the numbers, mayor Luigi de Mossi decided to issue an ordinance against the institutes of the capital city for a period of seven days.

  In Rome, in addition to the primary and nursery schools in the African district being shut, the middle school of the Sinopoli-Ferrini institute has also closed until further notice. Among the schools that have returned to online lessons is the primary school "Cerboni" of the Istituto comprensivo "Rosetta Rossi" in Primavalle.

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