Second wave COVID-19 pandemics: How is Italy avoiding a second pandemic wave? | The Business Standard
Skip to main content
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
The Business Standard

Wednesday
October 04, 2023

Sign In
Subscribe
  • Home
  • Economy
    • Aviation
    • Bazaar
    • Budget
    • Industry
    • NBR
    • RMG
    • Corporates
  • Stocks
  • Analysis
  • World+Biz
  • Sports
  • Features
    • Book Review
    • Brands
    • Earth
    • Explorer
    • Fact Check
    • Family
    • Food
    • Game Reviews
    • Good Practices
    • Habitat
    • Humour
    • In Focus
    • Luxury
    • Mode
    • Panorama
    • Pursuit
    • Wealth
    • Wellbeing
    • Wheels
  • Epaper
    • GOVT. Ad
  • More
    • Subscribe
    • Videos
    • TBS Graduates
    • Thoughts
    • Splash
    • Bangladesh
    • Supplement
    • Infograph
    • Archive
    • COVID-19
    • Long Read
    • Interviews
    • Offbeat
    • Tech
    • Magazine
  • বাংলা
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 04, 2023
How is Italy avoiding a second pandemic wave?

Analysis

Ferdinando Giugliano, Bloomberg
24 September, 2020, 05:10 pm
Last modified: 24 September, 2020, 06:18 pm

Related News

  • At least 21 dead after Italian bus carrying tourists falls from Venice overpass
  • From Covid to cancer: High hopes for Nobel mRNA vaccines
  • Hungarian and US scientists win medicine Nobel for Covid-19 vaccine work
  • Govt looks to regain economy's pre-Covid momentum by the end of current fiscal
  • New Zealand PM tests positive for Covid-19, to work via zoom

How is Italy avoiding a second pandemic wave?

The country seems to be coping much better than Spain, France and the UK this time around. But no one can be complacent about this pandemic

Ferdinando Giugliano, Bloomberg
24 September, 2020, 05:10 pm
Last modified: 24 September, 2020, 06:18 pm

Life goes on in Italy. Photographer: Antonio Masiello/Getty Images Europe/Bloomberg
Life goes on in Italy. Photographer: Antonio Masiello/Getty Images Europe/Bloomberg

Italy was a symbol of the first wave of the pandemic. It was the first country in the world to go into a national lockdown, as its hospitals — especially in cities such as Bergamo and Cremona in the north — struggled to cope with the spike of cases and there was a sharp increase in deaths.

As fear of a second wave grips Europe, Italy appears to be coping much better than other countries such as France, Spain and the UK This is hardly a time for complacency; as Britain can attest, this virus can return with a vengeance. But over the last two weeks, Italy recorded slightly fewer than 35 cases per 100,000 inhabitants — compared to nearly 315 in Spain, almost 200 in France and 76.5 in the UK The number of average deaths stood at 0.3 per 100,000, a third of the French rate and nearly a tenth of Spain's. Italy's figures are only marginally worse than Germany's, which has been praised as a model of sound pandemic management.

So far, Italy has been able to avoid the kind of new restrictions put in place in other parts of Europe. The UK has announced that restaurants and pubs will shut at 10 p.m. and that there will be 200 pounds ($254) fines for those who don't wear masks as required. In France, Paris has imposed the same 10 p.m. curfew on bars and restaurants and closed down gyms. In Italy, social life continues relatively unhindered — even though the government forced nightclubs to shut again after a string of new Covid cases in the summer, especially on the island of Sardinia.

So what is working in Italy's approach? It's hard to pinpoint exactly what factors improve a country's ability to control an outbreak. In the spring, it appeared that introducing a stringent lockdown early — as Greece did — was a recipe for less pain. And yet, the recent sharp drop of cases in Sweden, after the country avoided a lockdown and other draconian measures taken elsewhere, has raised doubts over what exactly is effective. The Italian government doesn't seem to have taken any radically different measures from the rest of the continent.

Two things may help explain Italy's relatively strong performance — so far — in keeping back a second virus wave. The first is the effectiveness of its track-and-trace system in identifying and isolating the contacts of those who test positive. Italy tests about 100,000 people a day, which isn't high by European standards. But only about 2% of those tests come back positive, which is low compared to elsewhere in Europe.

This slower spread than elsewhere may also be explained by the second factor: Italians appear to be pretty good about wearing masks and maintaining social distance. Doctors are also confident they've become better at treating Covid-19 — though this only helps explain the low death rate, not the limited number of cases.

Still, none of these explanations is perfect and it's important not to get carried away with Italy's apparent resilience. The country's health-care system has traditionally ranked highly in international comparisons, and yet it failed to contain the first phase of the pandemic, perhaps because it was caught off guard.

There's also evidence that Italians complied extensively with the requirement to wear masks in the spring, and yet it took weeks before the number of deaths and cases came down. It's entirely possible that Italy is experiencing a delayed second wave, compared with France and Spain. The UK suffered its first outbreak much later than Italy or Spain, but ended up with a similarly high human cost.

So Rome should stay on full alert. It only takes a few missteps for the epidemic to spiral out of control. For now, however, Italy's citizens can be proud of their health-care system and of themselves.


Ferdinando Giugliano writes columns on European economics for Bloomberg Opinion. He is also an economics columnist for La Repubblica and was a member of the editorial board of the Financial Times.

Disclaimer: This article first appeared on bloomberg.com, and is published by special syndication arrangement.

Top News

Italy / second wave / COVID-19 / pandemic

Comments

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderation decisions are subjective. Published comments are readers’ own views and The Business Standard does not endorse any of the readers’ comments.

Top Stories

  • Bangladesh Bank's measures failed to control inflation: IMF
    Bangladesh Bank's measures failed to control inflation: IMF
  • US will continue to voice concerns if govts engage in censorship, harassment of journos: Peter Haas
    US will continue to voice concerns if govts engage in censorship, harassment of journos: Peter Haas
  • File photo of Bangladesh Bank. Photo: Salahuddin Ahmed/TBS
    Bangladesh Bank sharply raises repo rate by 75 basis points to fight inflation

MOST VIEWED

  • Photo: Collected
    Is Atif Aslam coming to Dhaka?
  • Illustration: TBS
    Jackfruit burgers! Bangladesh’s export basket gets a new item
  • Cenbank finally moves to make money costlier to fight inflation
    Cenbank finally moves to make money costlier to fight inflation
  • Urgent dollar support sought for fuel import
    Urgent dollar support sought for fuel import
  • U.S. Dollar and Euro banknotes are seen in this illustration taken July 17, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
    Hopes for $30b reserve by June amid concerns to meet IMF threshold
  • Eight banks' provision shortfall jumps to Tk26,133cr on mounting default loans
    Eight banks' provision shortfall jumps to Tk26,133cr on mounting default loans

Related News

  • At least 21 dead after Italian bus carrying tourists falls from Venice overpass
  • From Covid to cancer: High hopes for Nobel mRNA vaccines
  • Hungarian and US scientists win medicine Nobel for Covid-19 vaccine work
  • Govt looks to regain economy's pre-Covid momentum by the end of current fiscal
  • New Zealand PM tests positive for Covid-19, to work via zoom

Features

A man plays online game on a computer at an internet cafe in Beijing, China August 31, 2021. REUTERS/Florence Lo

From play to pay: How microtransactions took over gaming

5h | Features
Unlike Bangla Medium students who are well-versed in the local university admission process from an early age, English Medium students often remain in the dark about these requirements. Photo: Collected

The slim route for English Medium students into public universities

10h | Pursuit
Illustration: TBS

The art of budget outlining in a business pitch

10h | Pursuit
In areas where the poison is applied, the water quality, zooplankton and phytoplankton are damaged as long as the poison remains. Photo: Rajib Dhar

Poison fishing spreads to Padma River

14h | Panorama

More Videos from TBS

New Delhi has asked these diplomats to leave India by October 10

New Delhi has asked these diplomats to leave India by October 10

3h | TBS World
Passengers will be able to cross the Padma by rail from October 10

Passengers will be able to cross the Padma by rail from October 10

22m | TBS Stories
Has inflation reduced suffering?

Has inflation reduced suffering?

2h | TBS Economy
The Shakib-Tamim conflict affected Jersey market

The Shakib-Tamim conflict affected Jersey market

5h | TBS SPORTS
EMAIL US
[email protected]
FOLLOW US
WHATSAPP
+880 1847416158
The Business Standard
  • About Us
  • Contact us
  • Sitemap
  • Privacy Policy
  • Comment Policy
Copyright © 2023
The Business Standard All rights reserved
Technical Partner: RSI Lab

Contact Us

The Business Standard

Main Office -4/A, Eskaton Garden, Dhaka- 1000

Phone: +8801847 416158 - 59

Send Opinion articles to - [email protected]

For advertisement- [email protected]