Lombardy remains a Covid-19 hot spot with Italy set to open regional borders

Nearly 40% of the country’s cases have occurred in the northern region.

As Italy decides whether to open regional borders as planned next week, hard-hit Lombardy remains an outlier.

The civil protection agency reported 345 confirmed new infections in the region on Friday.

That brought Lombardy’s total cases to 88,500, nearly 40% of Italy’s total.

Nearly half of Italy population of known positives are in Lombardy, and 80% of those in isolation at home, not requiring hospital care.

Officials are considering whether to delay the regional border opening by a week, a decision that is meant also to help Italy’s moribund tourist industry.

Italy’s total cases of confirmed Covid-19 rose by 516 to 232,248 on Friday, and deaths increased by 87 to 33,229.

Only five other regions showed double-digit increases.