Five more Italian doctors die battling coronavirus: Thirteen medics have now lost their lives, with 2,629 health workers infected – 8.3% of country’s total

(MAIL ONLINE) – Five more Italian doctors have died from coronavirus, bringing the death doll among medics in the country to 13 as it was revealed 2,629 health workers have been infected.

Initially three new fatalities were named as Luigi Ablondi, former general manager of Crema hospital, Giuseppe Finzi, a hospital doctor in Cremona and a general practitioner in Bergamo called Antonino Buttafuoco.

Then later today it emerged another two medical workers had passed away from the illness, the Italian national federation of doctors guilds said.

More than 2,600 medical workers have been infected with coronavirus in Italy – 8.3 per cent of the country’s total cases, it emerged last night, as the government extended lockdown measures beyond the start of April today.

There has been growing concerns about the safety of front-line medical staff who come into regular contact with infected patients.

Dr Buttafuoco, who tested positive for the virus, was unable to overcome the symptoms of the disease and passed away yesterday at the age of 66.

Dr Giuseppe Finzi, 62, worked at University Hospital of Parma and had previously run for mayor of Soragna, local media report.

Dr Luigi Ablondi died at the Cremasco hospital, which he had run for 11 years, on Monday at the age of 66, according to Il Nuovo Torrazzo.

It was also announced that pneumologist at Sant’Anna hospital in Como, Giuseppe Lanati, and GP Luigi Frusciante, who was a GP in Sagnino, had died on Sunday.

Both Lanati, 73, and Frusciante, 71, had come out of retirement to help their community during the coronavirus crisis, which had hit Italy harder than any other country outside China.

Previously doctors Raffaele Giura and Franco Galli also died of coronavirus, local media reported last week.

The latest figures on infected healthcare workers were released by a health foundation which said the ‘huge number’ of infected medics showed that procedures and protection equipment for doctors were ‘still inadequate’.

The problem is far worse than in China, because ‘8.3 per cent is more than double the percentage of the Chinese cohort’, the Gimbe foundation’s president Nino Cartabellotta told Italian media.

According to the figures, which are drawn from official data, the number of infected medics has risen by more than 1,500 just in the last eight days.

The figure of 2,629 infected medical professionals means that nearly 0.3 per cent of Italy’s health workers have caught the disease – taking them out of service when they are desperately needed.

‘No more talking: adequately protect those who must protect us,’ Cartabellotta urged last night.

It came as Italy recorded a record 4,207 infections and 475 new deaths from the virus yesterday, squashing hopes that the unprecedented national lockdown was beginning to slow the spread of the pathogen.

Prime minister Giuseppe Conte has now warned that quarantine measures ‘must be extended beyond their original deadline’. Some had initially been due to expire as early as next Wednesday.

Italy’s 475 new deaths are the largest number that any country, even China, has reported in a single day since the outbreak began late last year.

The previous record high of 368 deaths was also recorded in Italy, on Sunday.

The mounting death toll forced the army to intervene in the city of Bergamo yesterday to transport dozens of coffins out of the city.

The local crematorium has been overwhelmed by the crisis with staff handling 24 bodies a day, twice the usual maximum.

Italy’s new surge in cases, which takes the total to 35,713, puts an end to four days of stalling infection numbers and dampens hopes that the quarantine is working.

Italians have been ordered to stay indoors, with schools and universities shut, shops closed except for grocery stores and pharmacies, and heavy restrictions on travel.

However, officials warn there is a lag time between the lockdown being imposed and its effects becoming noticeable in the figures.

‘The main thing is, do not give up,’ Italian National Institute of Health chief Silvio Brusaferro said in a nationally televised press conference.

‘It will take a few days before we see the benefits’ of containment measures, said Brusaferro.

‘We must maintain these measures to see their effect, and above all to protect the most vulnerable.’

Imposed nationally on March 12, the shutdown of most Italian businesses and a ban on public gatherings were initially due to expire on March 25 with schools shut until April 3.

But prime minister Giuseppe Conte said today that the lockdown will be extended beyond the April 3 deadline.

‘The measures we have taken… must be extended beyond their original deadline,’ Conte told Thursday’s edition of the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

A top government minister hinted yesterday that the school closure could be extended well into next month, if not longer.

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