The World Health Organisation and medical professionals across the globe on Monday warned against the claims made by a leading Italian doctor that the virus “clinically no longer exists” in the country as per media reports.

One of Italy’s leading medical professionals had recently claimed that the novel coronavirus was losing potency in the country and was no longer as lethal as it was two months ago. “The swabs that were performed over the last 10 days showed a viral load in quantitative terms that was absolutely infinitesimal compared to the ones carried out a month or two months ago,” he had said in an interview with RAI television as quoted by Reuters .

Zangrillo, the head of the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan in the northern region of Lombardy, had said that the virus clinically does not exist any more in the country.

Another doctor from northern Italy in an interview with the national news agency ANSA had said that he was also seeing the coronavirus weaken, the report said. Matteo Bassetti, head of the infectious diseases clinic at the San Martino hospital in the city of Genoa had said that the virus was no longer as strong and that the Covid-19 pandemic in the country was “different” from what it was two months ago.

However, WHO and other experts in Italy and abroad had countered these claims warning people to remain vigilant.

WHO further stressed that the novel coronavirus had not suddenly become less pathogenic. “We need to be careful: this is still a killer virus,” WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan had said at a press briefing as quoted by an AFP report.

"We need to be exceptionally careful not to create a sense that, all of a sudden, the virus, by its own volition, has now decided to be less pathogenic," Ryan had said adding that it was not the case.

Franco Locatelli, the head of Italy's National Health Council had said that he was "baffled" by Zangrillo's comments adding that given the daily number of cases in the country, there was a “persistent circulation” of the virus in Italy.

The director of the Spallanzani infectious diseases institute in Rome, Giuseppe Ippolito had said that there was no scientific proof of such mutation or the virus losing potency.

Italy is one of the worst impacted countries in terms of Covid-19 pandemic. The country has reported over 2.3 lakh cases of the virus with over 33,000 deaths as per reports.

Authorities have recently begun the reopening of the country. As part of the relaxation in restrictions, the country will be open for foreign tourists from Wednesday as per media reports. Authorities, however, have advised people to remain more vigilant.