Italy’s Superior Institute of Health reported last week that the British variant represented some 18% of all new infections, but predicted that the number would rise quickly as the variant spread. The institute has warned that new restrictions could become necessary to keep the health care system from once again buckling under. It was to feature the intensive care doctor who diagnosed Italy’s first locally transmitted case, as well as the opening of a commemorative art exhibit dedicated to health care workers worldwide. But the government has shied away from another full-fledged national lockdown, instead placing individual regions into various levels of restrictions based on infection rates and hospital capacity. Italy had prioritized health care workers and residents of nursing homes with its first doses, but many regions are already two weeks into the over-80 vaccination campaign.

Source: ABC News February 18, 2021 18:03 UTC