State of emergency, Sileri: “Extension necessary against fourth wave”

The extension of the state of emergency is ” necessary. Even though our figures are better than those of other European countries, we are unfortunately seeing that they continue to grow. As we now know very well we are in the middle of the fourth wave, this is the first reason ”. This was stated in an interview with ‘Corriere della Sera’ Pierpaolo Sileri, Undersecretary of Health. ” This fourth wave is affecting the occupancy of hospital beds, both in intensive care and in medicine. Last month the beds in the intensive care units were occupied, on the Italian average, for 4%. We have now reached 9%. That’s why we need a state of emergency ”. For Sileri, the state of emergency helps speed ” brings with it the advantages of being able to activate actions immediately. It has the so-called power of ordinance and this allows the entire chain of the fight against the coronavirus to be able to do procurement, distribution, logistics, whatever is needed ”. According to the undersecretary, this fourth wave is suffering ” very little ” from the influence of the Omicron variant. ” Cases in Italy are still sporadic. Our fourth wave is almost entirely affected by the influence of the Delta variant. Ultimately, the state of emergency also serves to assess the impact of this variant that came from South Africa ”. Is it true that current vaccines do not protect us from the Omicron variant? “Some scientists tell us that the Omicron variant does not circumvent vaccines as long as the third dose is taken.” Which scientists? ” Those where the Omicron variant has already spread, such as Israel. Soon we will also have the results of Great Britain. The data coming to us from South Africa are not reliable because only 30% of the population is vaccinated in that country ”.