Italy claims victory over virus in poorer south

Italian health officials declared a long-sought victory Friday over the coronavirus in poorer southern regions that were less prepared for the pandemic than the richer north.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had warned six weeks ago that Italy's ability to conquer COVID-19 depended on whether cases can stay largely contained to its northern epicentre around Milan.

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The disease has now officially claimed 22,745 lives in the Mediterranean country of 60 million people -- a toll second only to the United States.

But Italy has still counted itself relatively lucky because the outbreak erupted in provinces with the best equipped medical staff.

Conte decided to gamble early by imposing the Western world's first peacetime national lockdown while the disease was still gathering force.

His team argued that the short-term economic pain would pay off by saving the health care system and allowing the country to gradually reopen in the weeks to come.

Italy's top health officials said Friday that Conte's big bet had paid off.

The latest data from Italy's civil protection service offered new reasons for Conte not to extend some of the strictest measures when they expire on May 4.

They showed the number of people currently being treated for COVID-19 rising by only a few hundred for the first time since the outbreak began.

The current number of cases had been going up by at least 1,000 a day for over a month.

However, business leaders charge that Conte is doing unnecessary damage to the economy by extending the shutdown for too long.

The leaders of Italy's northern industrial heartland are pushing Conte to take another gamble and open as many businesses and industries as possible in early May.