Covid-19 was found to be the direct cause of death among 89% of the pandemic’s victims in Italy, according to a report on Thursday by the country’s higher health institute and national statistics agency.

The study was based on the death certificates of 4,942 people who had tested positive for Covid-19 and carried out until 25 May, by which time 31,573 people were officially reported to have died of the disease.

The main causes of death in the remaining 11% of positive cases were cardiovascular diseases (4.6%), tumours (2.4%), respiratory illnesses (1%), diabetes (0.6%), dementia (0.6%) and illnesses of the digestive system (0.5%).

In 28.2% of the cases analysed the virus was fatal in those who had no co-existing illnesses, while 71.8% had at least one other condition.

Almost 35,000 people have died of coronavirus in Italy. Health minister, Roberto Speranza, banned air, road and rail travel from Serbia, Montenegro and Kosovo on Thursday as the country tries to limit new outbreaks mostly triggered by imported infections.

The move follows last week’s ban on travel from 13 countries considered high-risk, including Bangladesh, Brazil, Chile, Peru, Kuwait and Bahrain. Italy reported 162 new infections on Wednesday, up by 48 from the previous day.

(Source: The Guardian)