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| - Health authorities in Italy's South Tyrol region began a three-day programme of mass screening for coronavirus Friday, seeking to conduct voluntary rapid tests on 70 percent of the local population. The mainly German-speaking province in northern Italy, also known as Alto Adige, said infection rates had "reached such proportions" to make testing 350,000 people key to quickly rooting out virus spreaders. By 0900 GMT the province had tested more than 24,000 people and found 596 positive for Covid-19. South Tyrol is currently classified as a "red" or high-risk zone under Italy's system of regional coronavirus restrictions. The mass screening in the area, which includes part of the Dolomites range, comes ahead of the planned reopening of primary schools and nurseries on Tuesday. Italy was the first country in Europe to bet big on rapid "antigen" coronavirus tests, and its apparent success encouraged Britain, the United States, Slovakia and others to follow suit. However the tests, which are roughly 80 to 90 percent accurate, have not stopped an outbreak that has rocketed from around 500 cases a day in August, when they were first rolled out, to more than 35,000 now. str-ide/ar/wai
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