COVID-19 Situation in October 2024: 100 Deaths in a Week

 One hundred deaths in a week due to COVID-19 in October 2024. From Thursday, October 3 to Friday, October 9, 11,887 new cases of COVID-19 were recorded, with a decrease of about 9% compared to the previous week. Consequently, the transmissibility also decreases (from 1.20 to 0.93), and hospital beds in the medical area (3.5%, 2,149 hospitalized) and in intensive care (0.8%, 71 hospitalized) remain stable. However, deaths have increased: 100 were recorded compared to 85 in the last week of September. These are the key data from the latest weekly monitoring by the Ministry of Health and the Higher Institute of Health.

«Real Infections on the Rise»

Virologist Fabrizio Pregliasco, interviewed by Adnkronos Salute, urges caution: «The trend of COVID is typically undulating. Today, the number of cases, in my opinion, is very random, because most people no longer take the test or do not record it. Instead, the 'hard' data, that of hospitalizations and deaths, should be considered». The medical director of the Irccs Galeazzi-Sant'Ambrogio Hospital in Milan concludes: «The perception is that at this stage, COVID is absolutely on the rise».

Symptoms
It is known that COVID shares many symptoms with the common cold: stuffy nose, fatigue, sore throat, headache, and sneezing. Muscle aches, loss of appetite, persistent cough, nausea, diarrhea, and fever are also possible. Today, the loss of smell and taste has become uncommon. It remains important to pay attention to breathing difficulties, which should be immediately reported to a doctor and monitored.

Incubation Time and Duration
The incubation time associated with COVID-19 infection today is an average of 5 days (ranging from 2 to 14 days). Since the Omicron variant, the onset seems faster. According to a study published in Jama, the average incubation times have decreased as follows: Alpha 5 days; Beta 4.50 days; Delta 4.41 days; Omicron 3.42 days. From mild infections, recovery can be achieved in a time ranging from 2 to 5 days, but there are still cases that drag on for longer. Various factors influence the severity and duration of the disease, including vaccination, age, general health status, and the immune system's response.

Variants
Preliminary data for September 2024 confirm the KP 3.1.1 variant as dominant. The proportion of sequences attributable to the recombinant lineage XEC, included at the end of September among those under observation by the WHO, is growing strongly. In a month, it has tripled its presence.

Spread
At this stage, the trend of infections shows strong regional variability: the weekly incidence ranges from 38 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Lombardy, where 3,767 weekly cases were counted in absolute terms, to 0.6 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Sicily (29 cases). At the global level, in the four weeks from July 22 to August 18, 2024, the test positivity rate decreased from 12.4% in the first week of the reference period to 10.2% in the last wee