Italy’s coronavirus cases could be 10 times higher than reported, official warns

Even as Italy shows a slight stabilization in coronavirus cases, a health official warned Tuesday that the reported numbers may be just one-tenth of reality.

"For every officially certificated positive, there are ten non-certified,” Angelo Borrelli, head of the country’s civil protection agency, told La Repubblica.The Italian death toll rose Monday by 601, health officials reported Tuesday, bringing the national total to more than 6,000. Despite a drastic jump, that represents a slower rate of increase in what officials hope is the beginning of the end of the coronavirus peak.

Total cases have passed 63,000 in Italy.  But if Borrelli’s calculations are correct, that total could be more like 600,000.

Attilio Fontana, the governor of Lombardy, the hardest-hit region in Italy, said Tuesday that “a much more limited growth trend has stabilized” and speculated that cases will continue to decrease in the coming days.