Covid-19: Over 300 Italian doctors and scientists call for more testing

More than 300 Italian doctors and scientists have called on the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, and local authorities to use their skills and facilities to ramp up RNA testing to identify mild and asymptomatic cases of covid-19, which they have said account for 80% of all cases and are helping to spread the contagion. “Given the dramatic emergency in which our country finds itself, we consider it our civic duty to intervene as scientists equipped with technical skills,” they said in an open letter to the heads of national and regional government. “In many other countries (including China, France, Austria, and Germany) academic laboratories with high level skills have been co-opted in order to provide equipment and staff for the extension of diagnostic tests,” they said. “In Italy there is an …