‘THIS WILL REDUCE US TO NOTHING’
Italians struggle with strict quarantine
Italian police on Tuesday forced citizens to stand at least a metre apart as authorities stepped up enforcement of its countrywide quarantine.
The government has told all Italians to stay at home and avoid all non-essential travel until April 3, dramatically widening steps already taken in much of the wealthy north, which is the epicentre of the contagion.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte unexpectedly expanded the so-called red zone to the entire country on Monday night, introducing the most severe controls on a Western nation since the Second World War.
The move shocked many small businesses, which feared for their future.
“It looks like an apocalypse has struck, there is no one around,” said Mario Monfreda, who runs Larys restaurant in a smart Rome residential area. Under the government order, all bars and restaurants will now have to close at 6.00 p.m.
“It is a total disaster. This will reduce us to nothing ... More people are going to die as a result of the economic crisis that this lockdown is going to cause than the virus itself.”
Carabinieri, the country’s military police force, patrolled shops and cafés to separate people in the hope of preventing the spread of the coronavirus, as Italy recorded its highest daily death toll of 168.
Police in Rome stopped citizens at railway stations to ask whether they had a valid reason to leave the city, while officers on the streets encouraged citizens to stay inside.
“(Police) asked me where I was going. I showed them my fruit and vegetables and they let me go home,” one Roman citizen who asked not to be named said.
The overall death rate from the virus in Italy is now estimated at the surprisingly high 6 per cent, with more than 10,000 confirmed infections, amid fears that the health system has been overwhelmed by predominantly elderly patients.
Italy’s foreign minister said the country was going through difficult times but would demonstrate to the world that it would never give up.
“Italians have always had the strength to start again, even in moments of difficulty,” said Luigi di Maio.
Air Canada announced on Tuesday it was suspending flights to and from Italy as a result of the Italian regulations and “ongoing health and safety concerns” related to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
The airline’s last flight to Rome was to take off from Toronto Tuesday, with the final return flight departing Rome for Montreal on Wednesday.
Air Canada said it hopes to restart service May 1. Meanwhile, it says affected customers will be notified and offered full refunds.
Conte’s announcement on Monday night banned residents from travelling around the country without a certifiable health or work emergency, while swimming pools, gyms and sports centres were ordered to close.
Anyone who invents a reason to break the quarantine faces a potential threemonth prison sentence.
However, the northern region of Lombardy, one of the first areas to be quarantined, called on the government to introduce even more stringent measures.
“I would shut down all the shops, I would certainly close down public transport, and I would seek out all businesses that could be shut without creating excessive damage to the economy,” said Attilio Fontana, the president of the region.
While Lombardy accounts for 74 per cent of Italian fatalities, the disease has now reached all of the country.
Citizens appeared to be following the new regulations after widespread criticism of quarantine-breakers during the smaller lockdown of the northern regions over the weekend.
In Sicily, about 50 people faced fines for taking part in a funeral procession, circumventing the order to postpone all funerals and weddings until at least April 3.
In Rome, people desperately hoped that the outbreak will not be as bad as in the north.
Lining up outside a butcher’s shop in the city, an elderly woman said: “We’re protected by the Vatican and by the sunshine. They don’t have either of those in Milan.”
But there were fears the infection could be spreading after a reported 20,000 people in the north flouted the travel ban and fled south on trains which were described by one expert as “biological bombs.”
The EU Tuesday praised the Italian government for taking “bold action” against the coronavirus.