Italian officials confirmed coronavirus deaths rose by 386 overnight and brought the total number of fatalities to more than 1,800.
This comes as a viral video shows the obituary of a local newspaper expanding from only one page to ten pages.
A man speaking Italian in the video zoomed in on the front page of the local newspaper.
Dated February 9, he turned to L’Eco di Bergamo’s obituaries and showed one page and a half of death notices published.
He then showed another newspaper dated March 13, when the number of deaths jumped to 1,266 and cases rose to 17,600. The video revealed 10 full pages of obituaries.
This comes as a secret document suggested that patients will be denied access to intensive care unit if they are in poor health or aged over 80 as pressures on bed numbers continue to increase.
The crisis management unit in Turin has made a plan that will determine who will receive treatment in intensive care.
The Telegraph newspaper reported that the document says coronavirus patients will gain access to intensive therapy ‘in cases of emergency’ if they score less than 5 on the Charlson comorbidity index or younger than 80.
The index determines how many other medical problems a person has and helps to know which patients are more vulnerable to the coronavirus.
“[Who lives and who dies] is decided by age and by the [patient’s] health conditions. This is how it is in a war,” one doctor said.
A council official says that funerals are being held every 30 minutes.
“We are facing an emergency there is no doubting that. We are having a burial every half an hour,” said Giacomo Angeloni.
“We had 18 on Saturday, 44 over Sunday and Monday, 33 on Tuesday and 51 on Wednesday. We’ve had to close Bergamo cemetery for the time being to cope.
“We are using churches as temporary mortuaries. I have to thank my staff for what they are doing in the face of this tragedy.
“Certainly we never imagined having to deal with an emergency on this level.”
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