According to the weekly coronavirus report released by the nation’s health ministry and Higher Health Institute (ISS), the situation “has clearly deteriorated”, with almost all of Italy’s 20 regions recording an effective reproduction number (Rt) of over 1.5.

Silvio Brusaferro, the head of the ISS, on Tuesday said there is a high risk of Italy’s intensive care units being swamped due to the sharp rise in COVID-19 cases.

He said more restrictive measures should be brought forward in four regions: Emilia-Romagna, Campania, Friuli and Veneto.

“The critical threshold for the occupation (of COVID patients) in hospitals has been crossed in some regions and there is a high probability in all of Italy of the saturation of intensive care departments within a month,” Brusaferro told a press conference to present the latest report.

“So there is alarm and we cannot underestimate the situation.”

Brusaferro is the latest health expert to call for further measures to contain the spread of the virus.

“I’m afraid there’s no doubt that the situation is largely out of control,” Massimo Galli, the head of the infectious diseases department at Milan’s renowned Sacco hospital, told RAI television on Monday.

“Other illnesses don’t go on strike because COVID-19 exists and we have to get organised... otherwise the pandemic will end up doing damage that goes beyond the already very sad number of deaths.”

Infectious diseases expert Galli backed a call by the country’s doctors for a “total lockdown throughout the country”.      

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government last week imposed a nationwide night curfew as well as tougher measures in high-risk regions under a new three-tiered lockdown system.

But demands for tougher action continue amid reports that hospitals across the country are struggling.

Ambulances have been queuing outside emergency units from Turin in the north to Naples in the south.

Ambulances queue up outside at the Cotugno Hospital during the coronavirus emergency in Naples, on November 7, 2020. (Photo: AAP)

People were treated for coronavirus in their cars outside Cotugno hospital in Naples, the capital of Campania, over the weekend.

One 78-year-old woman reportedly waited in an ambulance for 26 hours before being admitted to hospital.

On Sunday, Filippo Anelli, the president of the Italian federation of medical guilds (FNOMCEO), called for Italy to be put into a “total lockdown throughout the country”.

In a Facebook post, Anelli said the national health system cannot cope with the rising number of COVID-19 cases and warned Italy could suffer 10,000 more deaths in a month.

Based on the latest national health data, he said, the situation in a month will be “dramatic and therefore we must resort immediately to a total closure”.

“We have reached fairly critical levels; lines of ambulances at emergency rooms are seen everywhere, intensive care is starting to have significant numbers,” he declared.

 In further comments made to Italian news agency ANSA, Anelli said “either we stop the virus or it will stop us”.

“Even the current yellow zones will soon find themselves in the same conditions as the worst-hit areas,” he added.

Under Italys’ new three-tier system of restrictions, four regions were designated high-risk “red zones”: Calabria, Lombardy, Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta.

They’ve been under strict measures since Friday.

The autonomous province of Bolzano joined them on Monday, while five other regions were bumped up from low-risk “yellow zones” to medium-risk “orange zones”, joining Puglia and Sicily: Abruzzo, Umbria, Basilicata, Liguria and Tuscany.

Under the restrictions, which apply until, December 3, non-essential shops and markets are closed in red zones and travel outside one’s home town is banned, except for work or health reasons.

Orange zones have slightly less stringent restrictions, while yellow zones must only adhere to nationwide measures, including a 10:00 pm to 5:00 am curfew, remote learning for high schools, the closure of shopping centres at weekends and reduced public transport capacity.

Italy recorded 35,098 new cases of coronavirus on Tuesday, while 580 virus-related deaths were registered in the past 24 hours.

The daily death toll is the highest since April 14, when there were 602 fatalities.