Italian death toll soars as 16 million quarantined
Italy is in lockdown amid a spike in coronavirus deaths and warnings from doctors, reports
We are facing a national emergency. We have to limit the spread of the virus and prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed
ITALY has reported a surge in deaths from coronavirus as it introduced strict new quarantine measures designed to curb the spread of the infection and ease pressure on the country’s buckling hospitals.
Latest figures revealed Covid-19 had claimed 132 lives in just 24 hours, bringing the total to 366.
The number of confirmed cases also rose by 25 per cent to 7,375.
It was the largest daily increase for both statistics since Italy reported its first case in February.
The surge came as a radical four-week shutdown got under way in the north of the country, forbidding some 16 million residents from leaving or entering several “red zones” at the centre of the outbreak.
The restrictions are the toughest outside of Asia, where the virus originated in December, and will stay in force until at least April 3.
They were signed into law overnight from Saturday into Sunday by
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.
He said: “We are facing a national emergency. We chose from the beginning to take the line of truth and transparency and now we’re moving with lucidity and courage, with firmness and determination.
“We have to limit the spread of the virus and prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed.”
The new measures ban people from entering or leaving Lombardy, Italy’s richest region, as well as 14 provinces in four other regions, including the cities of Venice, Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia and Rimini.
Only people facing emergency situations, including health problems or who have proven work-related reasons, will be permitted in and out of the exclusion zones. Leave has been cancelled for health workers.
All museums, gyms, cultural centres, ski resorts, cinemas, theatres and swimming pools in the targeted zones will have to close.
Restaurants and bars will be allowed to open from 6am to 6pm, but only if they can guarantee customers are at least 3ft apart.
Church services were also cancelled across the quarantined areas yesterday, while Pope Francis delivered his Sunday blessing over the internet from inside the Vatican, instead of from a window, to stop crowds gathering outside in St Peter’s Square.
Top-flight Serie A football matches were played behind closed doors at the weekend, despite a call from the country’s sports minister to halt the championship altogether.
The Italian Soccer Federation is holding talks tomorrow to assess the situation.
The streets of Milan were reportedly quieter yesterday as residents woke up to the news their city is one of the areas now in lockdown.
Resident Lucia Navone said she was surprised at the severity of the government’s crackdown.
She said: “What is happening in my city is worrying me and it is also saddening, because Milan is a lively city and to see it like this today is almost a defeat for me.
“I never would have thought this would happen.”
Italy has been hit harder by the crisis than anywhere else in Europe. To date, its neighbouring countries Switzerland and Austria have reported just 264 and 104 cases respectively.
Spain has 374, France 706 and Germany 795.
Italy has one of the longest life expectancies in Europe and its comparatively high elderly population has been suggested as a possible reason why the virus has swept through the nation to such a devastating extent. Older people, especially over-80s, are particularly vulnerable.
There has also been criticism that a hospital in Codogno mismanaged the first known case, enabling the patient to spread the infection to at least 13 others before being placed into isolation 36 hours later.
Antonio Pesenti, head of the Lombardy regional crisis response unit, told the Corriere della Sera newspaper the health system in Lombardy was “a step away from collapse” as intensive care facilities come under increasing strain.
He said: “We’re now being forced to set up intensive care treatment in corridors, in operating theatres, in recovery rooms. We’ve emptied entire hospital sections to make space for seriously sick people.”
A letter sent by Italian critical care experts to the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine was also leaked.
In it, Professor Maurizio Cecconi,
Professor Antonio Pesenti and Professor Giacomo Grasselli, from the University of Milan, urged governments across the continent to prepare for the worst.
They wrote: “We are seeing a high percentage of positive cases being admitted to our intensive care units (ICUS), in the range of 10 per cent of all positive patients. We wish to convey a strong message: Get ready.”
They said Italian hospitals had seen “a very high” number of intensive care patients admitted “almost entirely” for severe lung failure caused by the virus and needing ventilators to help them breathe.
They added: “Increase your total ICU capacity. Identify early hospitals that can manage the initial surge in a safe way.”
NHS blueprints outline plans to ration beds and ventilators to those most likely to survive in a worst case scenario outbreak.
The Milan stock exchange was scheduled to open normally today but one trader said he expected “a violent sell-off” as markets digested the lockdown of Italy’s economic heartland.
The World Health Organisation said it fully supported the actions taken by Italy to contain the virus.