Not enough rooms in hospitals, ‘many can’t make it and die at home’, says mayor at epicenter of Covid-19 outbreak in Italy

Hospitals simply lack the space and resources to help everyone, confining many to die from Covid-19 at home, warned Giorgio Gori, the mayor of Bergamo in Italy’s northern Lombardy region, which was hit hardest by the virus.

The healthcare system has been entirely overwhelmed by the outbreak, Gori told Il Messaggero on Wednesday, with everyone “working from 8am till we collapse exhausted in the evening.”

“Too many people are arriving in hospitals late and in grave condition, requiring intubation in intensive care units,” Gori said, adding that more than 300 people died last week in Bergamo region alone.

Many just can’t make it to a hospital and die at home. Nearly all of them are elderly people with pneumonia and are Covid-19 cases that had slipped under the radar.

The mayor warned that it is “difficult… to intercept such people in time, and there is no room for everyone in the hospitals.”

Lombardy has been the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy, which reported a spike in the nationwide death toll by 743 on Tuesday, with 3,612 new Covid-19 cases registered across the country.

On the same day, Bergamo was designated as area where a team of Russian disease specialists will be deployed as part of Moscow’s ongoing effort to help Italy stop the spread of the coronavirus. Russia has sent 15 military cargo planes to Italy carrying vital medicine, various supplies and equipment, including testing kits.

Italy has over 69,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19. More than 6,800 people have died.

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