In living hell as nation and family face devastation
SCOTT BURNS
SERGIO PORRINI admits he is devastated by the scale of the pandemic that has paralysed his homeland Italy and claimed the life of his cousin.
Porrini’s cousin Marco became one of more than 5000 Italian victims claimed by the coronavirus outbreak that is now sweeping the globe.
The former Rangers defender, now 51, is assistant coach of the Albanian national team but is back in Italy grieving for the loss of his cousin and digesting the information his country has more confirmed deaths than China.
Porrini said: “My cousin Marco was 42 and healthy and there wasn’t even a single sign that he had symptoms of coronavirus.
“It really is heartbreaking because it shows you what the virus can do.
“It is not just the older or younger generations that are at risk, it is a threat to everyone.
“It really is scary. We now have more deaths in Italy than China, that is from less cases than there were in China. We were the first s.burns@dailyrecord.co.uk country in Europe to be hit by the coronavirus after China.
“Now it is everywhere and goodness knows what is going to happen.”
Porrini, his wife and children stay in picturesque Crema, which is less than seven miles from where the first COVID-19 case in Italy was confirmed. He added: “My family home is in Crema, which is close to Bergamo, Brescia and Cremona.
“Those are the three cities with more cases of coronavirus than anywhere else in Italy.
“We were also very close to the red zone where they discovered the first cases of the virus in Italy. I am just 10 kilometres away.
“Since then my homeland really has been decimated. When the first news of coronavirus first came out from China people didn’t really know what we were going to be facing.
“Some experts warned it could be really dangerous while others thought it would bring nothing worse than the common cold.
The former Azzurri international admitted that he and his fellow Italians are not allowed to leave their homes except for medical attention or for shopping.
Italy’s prime minister Giuseppe Conte toughened that stance over the weekend after the COVID-19 outbreak took the death toll in the country to 5476.
Italian football legend Paolo Maldini has also been confirmed with the virus.
Porrini said: “We have been stuck here in the house for the last 12 days.
“We can’t do anything apart from maybe go out to get food, get