Man shares ‘daunting’ experience
A FIJIAN living in Italy said the swift transformation from a country open for business to complete lockdown in three weeks because of COVID-19, has caught everyone by surprise.
Samson Verma said living in a country regarded as the epicentre for the coronavirus in Europe was daunting.
“The coronavirus business was something that we regarded as restricted to China and something that the Chinese had to deal with,” he said.
“Three weeks later we are in lockdown here, lockdown meaning that everything is shut, the only shops open are the pharmacies and the food shops and supermarkets.
“Movement is very restricted and people are only allowed to shop and go straight back to their homes.
“The police, the army and the authorities are out here controlling people and interrogating them as to what they are doing out in the open.
“People coming in to work are controlled by the police and the authorities.
“The government has recommended that only those who really need to go work come to work and if you do, you will have to produce a certificate from your employer stating that it is necessary that you come to work.”
As of yesterday, COVID-19 had claimed 1809 lives in Italy, making it the hardesthit European state as the number of cases rose to more than 24,700.
Italy recorded 368 deaths, the highest in a 24-hour span.
“The restriction of movement has been absolutely necessary as you know that there is no cure yet, there is no medication or vaccine available at the moment to counter this virus or to eliminate it.
“The only solution possible is to isolate people through self-isolation confinement, the whole population has been asked to lock themselves in their homes and to stay at home.
“Because the virus is passed on by human contact, this is why all major events from sports, museum, theatres, cinemas and anything that will bring people together the major tourist sites are all out of bounds now because when people gather together the transmission of the coronavirus is very high.
“We have been indoors since last week. I go out to shop every day and you really feel that people are very worried and one immediately feels that you are a potential threat when you are out in public, everyone is a potential coronavirus threat.”