In a promising sign in bending the curve and a credit to it lockdowns, Italy is reporting a notable drop in coronavirus patients requiring intensive care, The New York Times reported Saturday.

The colder northern areas of Italy were particularly hit with an outbreak requiring ICUs, but the country reported ICU patients dropped to 2,812 from more than 4,000 a couple of weeks ago, per the report. Also, the Times reported hospitalizations have fallen from a high of 29,010 to 25,786 on Friday, a gradual decline.

"This is allowing those who work in ICUs greater ease in dealing with all patients who need intensive care," Italy's Higher Health Council chief Franco Locatelli told the Times.

Hospitals are reporting new hospitalizations are now most often related to nursing homes and family spread from inside homes, as lockdown measures have curbed community spread, per the report. 

Nursing homes "account for many of the deaths," which remain over 500 per day, Italy's National Health Institute infective illness department director Giovanni Rezza told the Times.

"At the beginning of the epidemic, each infected person was spreading the virus to three other people," Rezza told the Times. "Thanks to the lockdown, it's now down to under one. That, in turn, has an impact on hospitalizations and ICUs."

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