An anti-vaxxer has died of Covid-19 after tearing off his oxygen mask and insisting he did not have the disease while being treated at a hospital in Italy.
The man, named as Luigi Cossellu by local media and who was admitted on January 16, allegedly denied the existence of Covid-19 and had refused to get the vaccine.
Doctors immediately recognized the seriousness of the 28-year-old’s condition when he arrived at the Santa Maria Goretti Hospital in Latina, found south of Rome.
The man, named as Luigi Cossellu (pictured) by local media and who was admitted on January 16, allegedly denied the existence of Covid-19 and had refused to receive the vaccine
They diagnosed him with acute respiratory failure due to coronavirus and transferred him to an intensive care unit on his second day at the facility.
Cossellu, however, refused treatment and tore off his oxygen mask.
Doctors were able to persuade the man to put on the mask again, the director general of Latinas ASL (Local Health Unit) Silvia Cavalli told Italy24news.
But his collaboration was too late. His condition worsened and he succumbed to the disease on his fifth day in the hospital.
Cossellus’ 55-year-old father – who is also an anti-waxer – is also in hospital at the moment in a serious condition in respirator, according to the Italian news agency Ansa.
This was also confirmed by Silvia Cavalli, who reported that the man’s father is also being treated at the same hospital.
According to Italy24news, both men refused to receive their Covid-19 vaccinations.
Cossellu was from nearby Terracina and was engaged, according to his Facebook page.
Doctors diagnosed the Italian with acute respiratory failure due to coronavirus and transferred him to an intensive care unit on his second day at the facility
Alessio D’Amato, the health adviser in the Lazio region, urged young people to be vaccinated and pointed to the 28-year-old’s death. ‘Covid also hits young people hard. Vaccination is important, ‘he told the news media.
Italy24news also reported that a 28-year-old pregnant anti-vaxxer died the night between Thursday and Friday in Rome.
She was reportedly in her 31st week of pregnancy but was not vaccinated.
The news media reported that she had symptoms for 10 days and had difficulty breathing, and within a week her condition had dropped dramatically, forcing doctors to perform a caesarean section to give birth to the baby.
But despite their best efforts, they were unable to save the woman, who later died.
A number of Italian anti-waxers have hit the news throughout the pandemic, especially since the government introduced a vaccination mandate for over 50s coming to power from 1 February.
Late last year, a fervent Italian anti-waxer who got a cult following after his regular phone calls to a popular radio show was killed by Covid-19.
Maurizio Buratti, 61, known by his fans as Mauro from Mantua, had boasted of being a ‘plague spreader’ after deliberately going to a Carrefour supermarket without a mask while feeling sick and having a temperature of 38 degrees, for a few days before his admission.
Maurizio Buratti (pictured), a fervent Italian anti-waxer who received a cult following after his regular phone calls to a popular radio program, has died of Covid
He said he ‘defended the constitution’ by ignoring public health advice and refused to be tested because he believed the inoculation was causing the virus.
The frequent caller to the Zanzara radio station – who also promoted anti-Semitic conspiracy theories – was eventually intubated and later died.
In another case last week, Italian police thwarted a gang behind a huge anti-wax scam that helped people sign up to have the vaccine only to get it thrown away and not injected – in a trick to get a vaccinepas.
According to the study, a network of dozens of people was involved in bringing people from all over Italy to the vaccination center in Ancona, where they paid up to € 400 (£ 330) for a fake plug.
The nurse who was to inject them sprayed the dose into the trash can before putting a patch on the patient and giving them a ‘green passport’ showing evidence of vaccination.
A vaccine mandate in Italy requires that everyone over the age of 50 be vaccinated from 1 February. The unvaccinated risk paying a large fine or losing their jobs.
Police in Italy arrested a nurse (pictured) who took bribes to give people false evidence of vaccination
According to the mandate, the only alternative to getting the vaccine is to recover from Covid-19 due to the body’s development of antibodies during an infection.
This has also caused people to host “infection parties” where people would pay to be near those infected with Covid-19, hoping they would catch the virus, keep coming themselves and thus be entitled to the exemption.
The news of the man’s death comes as Italy appears to have peaked in the number of Omicron infections, with cases of the highly contagious variant now on the decline, the country’s Covid emergency chief said on Monday.
“There is good news: it seems we have reached the plateau of the curve for what worries Omicron, and it is going downhill,” Commissioner Francesco Paolo Figliuolo told reporters in Milan.
Italy was the first European nation to be hit by the pandemic in early 2020 and remains one of the worst affected, with the EU’s highest reported death toll of almost 144,000 victims.
A large proportion of the deaths have been in wealthy Lombardy in the north, which registered the first case.
‘In the last two days, the number of hospital admissions even in Lombardy is lower than the number of discharges. That bodes well, Figliuolo said.
Italy – which has adopted strict measures to curb the spread of the virus, including mandatory vaccination for those over 50 – reported 138,860 new Covid-19 cases and 227 deaths on Sunday.
The slowdown comes as the World Health Organization said the planet could end the Covid-19 emergency this year by ensuring equal access to vaccines and keeping restrictions in place.
The Omicron variant, which is highly contagious but generally leads to less severe infection among vaccinated, is now the dominant variant in Europe.
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