At the request of the Italian prime minister, around 100 Russian military experts are helping to curb the epidemic in Lombardy region. In particular, they are conducting disinfection in the provinces of Bergamo and Brescia. Earlier on Friday, Russian Ambassador in Rome Sergey Razov said that governors of Piedmont, Apulia and Friuli Venezia Giulia regions had also officially requested Russia for help.
"Absolutely [needed]. At this moment, the worst period has already passed. Although we have started similar disinfection operations with the Italian army, we would be proud [to receive Russian help] and we still need a contingent of Russians for these sanitation works, to disinfect retirement homes, so we will welcome them with open arms," Gabusi said, asked if and for what the region needs Russian help.
Apart from this, the region would welcome assistance in sanitizing public transport as the country is set to gradually reemerge from the lockdown.
"We hope to restart soon with our normal course of life, therefore public transport, for example, will be at risk as it will be a crowded place. So, there are many needs, but we are moving towards a slow, gradual reopening," the official continued.
According to the Civil Protection Department, Piedmont has registered 23,822 cumulative COVID-19 cases, including 2,699 deaths, as of Friday.
"Now the situation is much better, the numbers are falling sharply. We are making a lot of tests primarily in retirement homes, where of course the figures are still pretty high, but even there the situation is totally different from what we had even 15 days ago," Gabusi stated.
Italy is gradually recovering from the pandemic as the number of persons currently positive is decreasing every day. On Friday, it fell by 321. On Thursday, daily coronavirus recoveries surpassed the number of new cases for the first time since the start of the outbreak.
In total, the country has recorded 192,994 cases, including 25,969 fatalities.