Britons in Italy face quarantine
Tourists told to ‘self-isolate’ on return from areas hit by coronavirus as fears grow over outbreak in Europe
BRITISH holidaymakers returning from coronavirus-hit parts of Italy will be told to “self-isolate”, in an escalation of measures to combat the spread of the deadly virus.
Last night health officials were in talks on whether to tighten restrictions that could affect thousands of people.
Italy was not last night on the government list of “high-risk” countries, despite having the most cases of any country outside Asia, prompting criticism from GPS amid concern potential carriers were not being put in isolation.
Today, the country’s chief medical officer is expected to add the affected regions, with anyone returning from them asked to “self-isolate” for 14 days if they showed potential symptoms.
Officials are said to be discussing whether to ask everyone returning from such parts of Italy to stay at home for a fortnight as a precaution. It came as countries were urged to prepare for a pandemic, with the World Health Organisation warning of a “deeply concerning” rise in cases in several nations.
Coronavirus has infected more than 79,000 people in 37 countries, with 2,620 deaths. Last night global stock markets plunged as the outbreak continued to spread outside China. In London, the FTSE 100 dropped 3.3 per cent, with £76billion wiped off company values on the City’s main market.
Shares in European airlines crashed amid fears of sweeping travel restrictions. At least a trillion dollars was wiped off the value of global shares, with a 16.7 per cent fall in easyjet stock, and a 13.8 per cent fall in Ryanair.
In Italy, cases soared from three to 229 in four days and included seven deaths. Eleven towns were quarantined with 50,000 people in lockdown.
Asked whether similar measures could be imposed in the UK, the Prime Minister’s spokesman said: “We will be led by advice from public health and medical experts and will take steps which they feel are required to best protect the British public.”
So far, the Foreign Office has not announced travel restrictions, but Ireland yesterday said its citizens should not travel to parts of Italy affected by the outbreak. Tourists forced to cancel holidays were yesterday told their cancellations may not be covered in their insurance policies.
Three school pupils returning from a skiing trip to Italy were awaiting test results. The pupils from Torquay Boys Grammar had been to Bormio, northern Italy. The school said those on the visit, including staff, were asked to stay at home until the results were known.
Yesterday, doctors said health officials had been “ridiculously quiet” on the risk in Italy, saying the lack of guidance meant GPS and those in A&E departments were in danger of exposure. Anyone returning from China, Thailand, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, Malaysia or Macau was advised to self-quarantine and contact NHS 111 if they showed symptoms.
So far, the advice does not apply to those coming from Italy. Dr Stephanie de Giorgio, a Kent GP, said the failure to offer advice on returning patients was “embarrassing”.
‘Until yesterday I was more terrorised by the virus, but today I am much more scared by the isolation’
RESIDENTS quarantine and control soldiers as the living rapidly zone blockaded in in have a Italy’s growing nightmare described entire coronavirus epidemic. towns as police themselves to
were More under than 50,000 quarantine people yesterday in 11 towns as authorities confirmed a seventh person had died in Europe’s worst outbreak of the killer virus.
“Until yesterday I was more terrorised by the virus, but today I am much more scared by the isolation,” said Paola, a resident of the locked-down town of Codogno told The Daily Telegraph by phone. “It is a nightmare that touches everyone here.”
Italy has registered more than 200 cases of coronavirus since Friday. Although authorities said they were still searching for “patient zero”, the person with whom the outbreak began, the epidemic had already moved well beyond the point where finding them could stop it.
“The problem now is an in-house problem as the virus is circulating among our own residents in the affected areas,” said Giovanni Rezza, director of the department of infectious diseases at the Higher Institute of Health in Rome.
Authorities responded by restricting movement in what has been compared to a wartime curfew, with more than 500 extra police sent to 43 different blockades around the so-called “red zones”.
In both hotspots, authorities announced “sterile corridors” for accessing food and medicine. Those defying the patrols faced arrest and steep fines.
Ten towns in Lombardy’s Lodi district, a picturesque rural area 30 miles south-west of Milan, were cordoned off at 7am yesterday.
The 11th, Vo’ Euganeo, near Padua, is in the neighbouring Veneto region, where police and soldiers blocked all five roads into the village and turned back a Telegraph reporter.
In Vittadone, a village in the heart of the “red zone” but not yet quarantined, schools were empty, shops shuttered and streets empty but for one man outside the single café that had remained open. Minutes away, police in green berets, sunglasses and masks stopped motorists entering the blockaded town of Casalpusterlengo.
Only residents were permitted in, but the officers on duty warned those who did enter that they would not be allowed back out.
Toni, a 57-year-old local trying to get home after a few days in Milan, argued in vain with the officers to let him through. He was stuck, he explained, because he had recently split up with his wife and no longer had the papers proving he was a resident.
“If they give me a hotel, I’m fine with that – but I have to go home because I need to sleep,” he said. While Toni argued with the police, a woman circled the roundabout just inside the cordon, explaining to the officers that she was awaiting a delivery.
A few minutes later, a man drove up in a car and handed her a box of surgical masks.
Another woman arrived at the border with a suitcase and a bag carrying a musical instrument in preparation for the lockdown.
She waved goodbye to the friends who had dropped her off and got into a waiting car, which quickly drove into the red zone, now unable to leave.
Italian health authorities say they expect the epidemic to recede after two weeks if the quarantine measures are properly enforced.
Giuseppe Conte, Italy’s prime minister, announced yesterday that the government did not intend to suspend the Schengen treaty or close the country’s borders.
Late on Sunday, Austria stopped a Venice-to-munich train with 300 people on board while tests for the virus were carried out on several feverish passengers. They all tested negative.
Romania restricted entrance to residents in Lombardy and Veneto. France is also debating whether to place checks along its border with Italy.
The psychological impact of the blockade is already being felt well beyond the so-called “red zone”. Seven of Italy’s northern regions have announced closures of schools, universities, cinemas, museums, football matches and other events, triggering panic-buying in several cities.
“You never know what could happen. We just don’t want to risk being without,” said one couple outside a Carrefour supermarket on the outskirts of Bologna, their grocery cart piled high with bottled water, wine, pasta, canned tomatoes, dry goods, tissue paper and various forms of disinfectant.
Shares on the Italian stock market were down 4.68 per cent yesterday afternoon. Electronic payments group NEXI said it had lost more than 6.7 per cent, while motorway and airport retail group Autogrill slumped 12.5 per cent.
The country was split between those calling for more drastic measures and those denouncing the current restrictions and media hype.
The Right-leaning newspaper Il Giornale yesterday featured a massive headline with just the word “Curfew” comparing Italy’s north to wartime.
“I think they are exaggerating a bit – it is terrorising people,” said a young butcher’s assistant, in the Emilia-romagna region, who had been caught unprepared for the number of customers lined up outside his small bottega hoping to buy some meat.