You can rapid-test for flu. If it's an ILI and tests negative for flu, it's probably COVID at this point.
This is not a game of assumptions.
Furthermore, Italy tested over 200,000 samples in a little less than 14 days? Don’t think so.
Numbers aren’t making sense. At all.
Or maybe Italy tested 200,000+ samples with RT-PCR technology with machines and labs and tests / swabs they don’t have?
Not trying at all to spin conspiracy theories here but these numbers simply do not add up.
As a corollary: there are a myriad of infections that can present as fever and cough: rhinoviruses, influenza, bronchial infections, gastroenteritis, auto immune flare ups, sinusitis and season allergies, the list goes on.
We are all speculating btw.
Italians are triaging, so they have to quickly sort the cases. They have to sacrifice precision and allow for some false positives.