The Italian town, which reported the first death of Covid-19, managed to suppress the infection by testing the entire population. The report in Vo’Euganeo, in the Veneto region, shows the risk of asymptomatic carriers.
Vo’ Euganeo, a small town of fewer than 3,500 inhabitants in the Veneto region that recorded the first death from coronavirus in Italy, has become an example to be followed in the battle against Covid-19: the town has managed to reduce the number of infections due to the massification of diagnostic tests, as shown by a report by the University of Padua.
Thanks to the study, which was conducted in collaboration with the authorities of the Veneto Region and the Red Cross, the 3,300 inhabitants of Vo’Euganeo were checked twice whether or not they had symptoms of the disease.
The scientific research started on 6 March when at least 90 were infected in Vo’Euganeo and no new infection has occurred in recent days.
Researchers were interested in studying the virus, its propagation mechanisms, and risk categories, but were able to establish the significant role of asymptomatic carriers in its transmission.
As one of the researchers, Director of the Chair of Diagnostic Microbiology and Virology at the University of Padua Andrea Crisanti, told the Wall Street Journal, his team was trying to contain the epidemic because they detected, removed and isolated asymptomatic carriers (that if they had not been isolated, they would have transmitted to others).
As per the media reports, the Governor of Veneto, Luca Zaia, of the more than 3,000 tests carried out in Vo ‘ Euganeo, 66 positive results were found and he was isolated for 14 days. it was after that time, six of them continued to conduct a positive check.
According to the report, most of the asymptomatic carriers were young, but not all.
“In Vo’ Euganeo, due to the total isolation of infectious subjects, the total number of patients decreased from 88 to 7 within 7 to 10 days,” Romagnoni continues. “What is even more important and valuable and shocking is the observation that the isolation of the infected (symptomatic or not) was not only capable of shielding others from contagion but in fact appears to prevent the evolution of the disease in infected subjects since the recovery rate in infected and isolated patients was 60% in just 8 days.”
Governor Zaia boasted that his policy to monitor more than any other area in the world is part of his success in controlling the disease. Compared to what he said, Veneto, which has 5 million people, is going from 3,000 tests a day to more than 11,000.
The WHO has not proposed compulsory testing of the population for the time being.
