With over 16 500 dead, Italian doctors blame officials for coronavirus response failures

Rome - Doctors in Lombardy, the Italian region hardest hit by the coronavirus epidemic, have criticised local officials for their handling of the crisis and said the mistakes they made should be a lesson for everyone.

However, a letter signed by leading doctors, including the heads of 11 provincial health authorities within Lombardy, suggested failures within the local health system contributed to the greatest emergency Italy has faced since World War Two. While the neighbouring region of Veneto engaged in widespread testing in a known coronavirus hotspot, Lombardy only tested the seriously ill arriving for treatment in hospital, saying they did not have the capacity for wider checks.The letter took aim at the management of nursing homes, where hundreds of people have died without ever being tested. The doctors said in the province of Bergamo alone, 600 of the 6 000 pensioners under care had died.

Lombardy's top health official, Giulio Gallera, rejected media allegations that the region had allowed hospitals to send infected patients to local care homes without proper protection in an effort to free up badly needed space in packed wards.

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