Italian Medical Chief Roberto Stella, 67, dies of coronavirus

Rome, Italy ( Daily Mail, Mar 12 th 20): An Italian medical chief died of coronavirus at the age of 67, it emerged today, as the countries death toll jumped to over 1,000.

Roberto Stella passed away on Tuesday after being hospitalised with respiratory failure following his diagnosis with the disease in Como, Italy.

Italy’s National Federation of Doctors and General Practitioners issued a statement following the news mourning Stella’s death, according to CNN.

The federation’s secretary Silvestro Scotti said in a statement: ‘He was the example of the capability and hard work of family doctors. His death represents the outcry of all colleagues who still today are not equipped with the proper individual protection needed.’
The total number of cases in Italy, the European country hardest hit by the virus, rose to 15,113 from a previous 12,462, an increase of 21.7 per cent. That marked the biggest daily rise in absolute terms since the contagion first came to light on February 21.

The Civil Protection Agency said that, of those originally infected, 1,258 had fully recovered compared to 1,045 the day before. Some 1,153 people were in intensive care against a previous 1,028.

More than half of those who are in intensive care in Italy are located in hard-hit Lombardy province, which on Thursday reported 605 ICU patients in a region with only 610 ICU beds.

Hospitals in Lombardy are are overflowing with the dead. Lombardy’s top health care official, Giulio Gallera, said at the request of the hospitals, the region had simplified the bureaucracy needed to process death certificates and bury the dead.

Rome’s Catholic churches were ordered to close today due to the pandemic, in a move believed to be unprecedented in modern times.