Italy orders quarantine of 10m people in the Lombardy region
THE Italian government is expected to lock down the entire Lombardy region today to limit the spread of the coronavirus, as well as areas around and including Venice and the cities of Parma and Rimini.
Draft government legislation said movement into and out of the regions would be severely restricted until April 3. Milan is the Italian financial capital and has a population of just under 1.4million people, and the entire Lombardy region is home to 10million. The government decree also covers parts of the Veneto region around Venice as well as Emilia-Romagna’s Parma and Rimini.
According to the draft decree, expected to be passed last night, museums, gyms and swimming pools will also close and holidays are cancelled for all healthcare workers. All religious services, including funerals, would also be suspended. Schools will be shut until April 3 at the earliest and major sporting events, such as Serie A football games, will be played behind closed doors.
Italy has been hit harder by the epidemic than any other country in Europe with 5,883 cases and 233 deaths, and is reporting more deaths per day from the virus than any other nation.
One of Italy’s most senior politicians announced that he had been diagnosed with the virus. “I have coronavirus too,” said Nicola Zingaretti, the leader of the co-ruling Democratic Party.
Meanwhile a hotel used to quarantine suspected carriers of coronavirus in China collapsed yesterday, trapping more than 70 people, as the total number of cases of the virus worldwide exceeded 100,000.
Around 20 people were pulled from the wreckage of the 80-room Xinjia Express Hotel in Quanzhou, a city in Fujian province, according to Chinese media. It was unclear last night whether anyone had keen killed during the collapse, which occurred at 7.30pm local time.
France yesterday reported 336 new cases in the previous 24 hours, bringing the total to 949 in country with 45 patients in intensive care.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency as the number of coronavirus cases in the city rose to 76.
Meanwhile, in Greece, which has so far confirmed 45 coronavirus cases, a row has erupted between doctors and priests over whether to restrict Holy Communion in churches. The federation of hospital doctors stressed that no exception “for religious, sacramental or metaphysical reasons” should be made to please the Church.
But the Church of Greece said it must push on with communion. “It’s not possible to shut down churches, or to not give out Holy Communion,” said Bishop Chrysostomos of Patras, one of the areas with the most virus cases.
Iranian officials said that 1,000 more cases had been detected in the past 24 hours, and another 21 people had died.