Italian government extends virus lockdown to entire country
ITALIAN premier Giuseppe Conte said last night that he was extending restrictions on travel from the north to the entire country to try to stop the spread of coronavirus.
Mr Conte said a new government decree would require all people in Italy to demonstrate a need to work, health conditions or other limited reasons to travel outside the areas where they live.
“There won’t be just a red zone,” he told reporters, referring to a lockdown of areas in northern Italy instituted over the weekend.
“There will be Italy” as a protected area, he said.
The restrictions will take effect today and will last until April 3, he said.
Mr Conte also took to task young people in much of
Italy who have been gathering at night to socialise during the public health emergency that started on February 21.
“This nightlife... we can’t allow this any more,” he said.
Pubs had been closed in northern Italy, with eateries and cafes also ordered to close at dusk. Now that crackdown is extended to the entire country.
Six inmates also died after riots broke out at 27 prisons in Italy over new restrictions aimed at controlling the spread of coronavirus, local media say.
In Milan, prisoners set fire to part of the San Vittore prison before protesting on the roof after they were told visits had been suspended.
After mass testing uncovered more than 9,000 infections, Italy’s death toll yesterday surged by 97 to
463, making it the worst-hit country after China.
Around the globe, more and more events were cancelled or hidden behind closed doors, from the Pope’s Sunday service to a Formula One race in Bahrain to a sumo competition in Japan, where wrestlers arrived at the arena in face masks and were required to use hand sanitiser before entering.
In Saudi Arabia, all schools and universities are to close this week, following similar moves in central China,
Japan and other Gulf countries. Questions grew about whether to maintain US presidential campaign rallies and other potential “super-spreading” gatherings of people, as the virus entered new US states.
The Pope, who has been ill, held his Sunday blessing by video instead of in person, even though he was not directly affected by the lockdown. He described feeling like he was “in a cage”.
In China, the government locked down about 60 million people in central Hubei province in late January. Six weeks later, they are still effectively stuck.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said China’s move helped the rest of the world prepare for the virus to arrive, and WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus tweeted his support on Sunday for Italians and their “bold, courageous steps aimed at slowing the speed of the coronavirus”.
China has suffered about three quarters of the world’s 111,000 coronavirus infections and most of its 3,890 deaths. New infections in China have levelled off, however, and most of those infected, in China and globally, have already recovered.
Infections increased in other epicentres – South Korea, Iran and especially Italy. There has been a nosedive in tourist traffic and major disruptions to supply chains worldwide.
Italy is also closing all museums and archaeological sites, even those far from the lockdown zone. It suspended all weddings until April 3.
Restaurants all around Italy are expected, somehow, to keep patrons 3ft away from each other.
Governments across Europe tightened their rules.
Bulgaria banned all indoor public events. France’s president Emmanuel Macron and Germany’s governing parties have held emergency security meetings as the number of cases in each country passed 1,000.
In waters around the world, the virus has left the cruise ship industry in disarray.
The Grand Princess cruise ship, where 21 people have tested positive for the virus, has idled for San Francisco for days but docked in Oakland yesterday.
Americans will be sent to facilities around the country for testing and isolation, but it is not yet clear what will happen to international passengers.
Canada planned to pick up more than 200 of its citizens.
Another cruise ship was in quarantine on the Nile River in Egypt with 45 confirmed cases.