Italy reports another 919 coronavirus deaths
Death toll rises in hard-hit areas; Amy Kellogg reports from Florence, Italy.
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Even a pandemic couldn't stop this birthday party.
A coronavirus patient in Italy was treated to the celebration on Monday while still at a field hospital operated by the Italian Army.
The Army shared a video on Twitter of the man, named "Bruno," at the field hospital in the northern Italian city of Piacenza.
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In the video, medics in protective suits come together to sing to Bruno before presenting him with a cake.
“This is the Italian Army, this is the Italy that the world likes! Happy birthday Bruno, our guest in the field hospital in Piacenza!” the Italian Army tweeted.
Medics wish a happy birthday to a man named Bruno at the the Italian Army’s field hospital in the northern Italian city of Piacenza on Monday. (Esercito Italiano)
Bruno, who was visibly emotional, thanked everyone around him for the birthday wishes and called the surprise “marvelous” and “beautiful.”
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As of Wednesday, there were at least 887,067 positive cases of COVID-19 and at least 44,264 deaths worldwide, according to Johns Hopkins University. The death toll from the virus in Italy has reached 12,428 as of April 1 with 727 deaths reported in the country. About 16,847 people who were infected have been cured.
Italy has reported that the infection rate appears to be leveling off and the number of new cases could start declining, but that the crisis is far from over
Dr. Chiara Lepora, who heads Doctors Without Borders' efforts in the hot spot of Lodi in northern Italy, said Tuesday the pandemic had revealed some critical problems in health systems of the world's most developed countries.
“Outbreaks cannot be fought in hospitals,” she told the Associated Press. “Hospitals can only deal with the consequences.”
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Doctors in Bergamo, the epicenter of Italy's outbreak, described the new coronavirus as “the Ebola of the rich” in an article in the journal NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery. The article warned that health systems in the West are at risk of becoming as overrun by COVID-19 as West African hospitals were during the 2014-2016 Ebola outbreak.
Fox News' Courtney Walsh and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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