No, there are not only 2.9% of COVID deaths due to the virus in Italy

In an article from October 29, 2021, the France Soir blog claims that a report reveals that only 2.9% of Covid-19 deaths have succumbed only to the virus in Italy. The article was widely relayed on social networks, in particular by the presidential candidate Francois Asselineau.

This claim is false and it is not what the report shows. Infox is actually from the right-wing conservative newspaper The weather.

The report of the Higher Institute of Health

Contacted by email on his report, the Italian Higher Institute of Health explains:

“The claim of this site is completely false. What we wrote in the report is that the 2.9% of those who died had no other co-morbidities. We have known this since the start of the pandemic. And we’ve written it in this report and in several other reports over the past few months (along with many other international institutions).

Having one or more comorbidities is a risk factor for Covid-19. Even if a patient has two or more previous illnesses, such as hypertension, diabetes or obesity, the virus may be responsible for the death. We have ample evidence of this, for example our national statistical office (Istat) recorded more than 100,000 more deaths in 2020, due to the pandemic. In addition, in Italy, it is very common for a person, especially if they are over 65, to have comorbidities: only 15% of the elderly do not have them, and the 52% have more than 2 pathologies. . ”

Disinformation in Italy

Faced with the scale of disinformation in Italy, the Italian ISS was forced to publish a press release on its website.