Daniela Trezzi was working in the busy San Gerardo Hospital in the badly-hit Lombardy region (Picture: Newsflash)

A nurse who worked in an intensive care unit at the epicentre of the Italian coronavirus outbreak took her own life after contracting the disease, a nursing federation has revealed.

Daniela Trezzi, 34, feared she had spread the virus on to others while working in the San Gerardo Hospital in the city of Monza, which is located in the badly-affected Lombardy region.

The National Federation of Nurses of Italy (Federazione Nazionale Ordini Professioni Infermieritich) confirmed the news that Ms Trezzi took her own life on Sunday.

According to the federation, Trezzi was suffering from a lot of stress during her frontline work against the coronavirus and her state reportedly worsened when she was diagnosed with Covid-19 on March 10th.




The nurse reportedly told her colleagues she was extremely worried that she might have infected someone with the virus.

The federation said in a press statement: ‘We express our pain and consternation over the suicide of our young colleague. Our 450,000 professionals will join together around the relatives and family of Daniela.’

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Daniela Trezzi told colleagues she feared she might have passed on Covid-19 to her patients (Picture: Newsflash)

Daniela Trezzi worked in an intensive care unit in the epicentre of the Italian coronavirus outbreak (Picture: Newsflash)

Mario Aparone, the Director of the San Gerardo Hospital, regretted the nurse’s death and said that the ‘judicial authorities are investigating the case’.

The federation said that a similar situation happened some days ago in Venice, adding: ‘We are at risk of suffering stressful conditions and worker shortages, but this cannot be commented on now.’

The investigation is ongoing.

Health workers at work in the temporary structures built next to the Brescia hospital due to the coronavirus outbreak, Brescia, Italy (Picture: EPA)

A medical worker in protective gear (R) tends to a patient (Picture: AFP)

Italy has registered more than 69,000 cases of coronavirus and 6,820 deaths.

The number of fatalities now stands at close to double of those recorded in China, where Covid-19 first emerged last December.

Italy’s Civil Protection Agency, which is collecting the data, said the true number of infections could be as high as 700,000.

Head of the group, Angelo Borrelli told La Repubblica newspaper: ‘A ratio of one certified case out of every 10 is credible.’

Medics have spoken of having to make heart-wrenching decisions about which patient to treat because of a lack of oxygen and beds.

Dr Michele Boldrini told Metro.co.uk that the health service in the Mediterranean country was overwhelmed.

Italy is the worst-hit European country and the death toll has overtaken China (Picture: AFP)

There are now 6,820 deaths in Italy from Covid-19 (Picture: EPA)

The risk is high for medics, with at least 18 doctors having died in Italy from coronavirus.

In Spain, the second-worst hit European country, some 12% of all new infections are medics.

A delay in the lockdown, combined with the comparatively old age of the country’s population has worsened the crisis in Italy.

There had been hope that the country had turned a corner as the number dying each day went into decline.

Some 783 people passed away on Saturday but the numbers dropped to 651 on Sunday and just over 600 on Monday.

Yesterday that figure rose to 743, dashing hopes that an end was in sight.

Italy has been in lockdown for over two weeks and the current restrictions are due to remain in place until April 3.

There is speculation the date will have to be pushed back given the continual rise in cases across the country.



A decree issued on Tuesday gave the government the power to extend the deadline to July 31.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte denied planning to keep the lockdown in place until that date, saying he hoped to loosen curbs ‘well before then’.

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