Antibody tests: 1.5 million Italians had virus
Rome: The results of nationwide antibody tests conducted on nearly 65,000 Italians indicate that some 1.5 million individuals or 2.5% of the population have had the coronavirus, health officials said on Monday.
That figure is six times the number of confirmed cases in Italy's official virus tally. The results - viewed with the country's overall death toll of close to 35,000 -align with the 2.3% estimated mortality rate of the virus.
Dr Franco Locatelli, a key scientific government adviser, said the tests were designed to understand the virus' circulation nationwide and not whether Italians with antibodies were safe from the virus.
The huge geographic variability in the results - some 7% of residents in hard-hit Lombardy had the virus versus 0.3% in Sicily - showed that Italy's three-month nationwide lockdown was critical to sparing parts of the country the devastation experienced in the north, he said.
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Remarks against St Francis Xavier: Right-wing speaker Gautam Khattar gets bail
Panaji (PTI): A court in Goa on Saturday granted bail to right-wing speaker Gautam Khattar, who was arrested after he allegedly made derogatory comments against St Francis Xavier.
Judicial Magistrate First Class, Vasco, granted regular bail to Khattar, currently admitted to Goa Medical College and Hospital at Bambolim for treatment of chest pain after he was shifted from the District Hospital in Mapusa two days back.
A row erupted after a video of remarks by Khattar, the founder of Sanatan Mahasangh, at an event on April 18 in the presence of Swami Brahmeshanand, State Transport Minister Mauvin Godinho and BJP MLAs Sankulp Amonkar and Daji (Krishna) Salkar, went viral.
St Francis Xavier is revered as the patron saint of Goa.
The controversial remarks led to the Vasco Police registering an FIR against Khattar on charges of hurting religious sentiments and creating enmity between groups.
He was detained in Kullu, Himachal Pradesh, by local police. His custody was later handed over to the Goa Crime Branch, according to officials.
