Much of north Italy may be locked down
ROME — The national government Saturday weighed the extraordinary step of locking down much of the country’s north, restricting movement for about a quarter of the population in regions that serve as the country’s economic engine.
If implemented, it would be the most sweeping effort outside China to stop the spread of the coronavirus and would be tantamount to sacrificing the Italian economy in the short term to save it from the ravages of the virus in the long term.
Italy’s outbreak, already the worst in Europe, has inflicted serious damage on one of the Continent’s most fragile economies.
It has led to the closure of schools and by Saturday, it had infected the leader of one of the two parties in the governing coalition.
The measures, if approved, would turn stretches of Italy’s wealthy north — including the economic and cultural capital of Milan and landmark tourist destinations such as Venice — into the quarantined red zones until at least April 3.
It could prevent the free movement of roughly 16 million people.
By Saturday, Italy had more than 5,800 cases of the virus, 233 of them fatal, with increases of almost 800 infections and 49 deaths from the day before. Only China has had more people die after contracting the virus.
As the government met late into the night Saturday, officials insisted the proposals merely were a draft.
Confusion spread about whether officials actually would block travel or only recommend against it.
As soon as the draft became public, shocked regional and municipal leaders in the north argued they were caught off-guard and that implementing the rules so suddenly would be impossible.
Italian media reported an additional draft under consideration by the government also would extend the less restrictive measures previously imposed in the north, such as the closure of museums, to the rest of the country.
Critics of the government argued the late-night meeting reflected a lack of coordination and communication with the country that had caused confusion amid the crisis.
According to the draft, published by several Italian news outlets and confirmed by government officials, authorities would need to approve special travel permissions in or out of the designated areas for family or work emergencies.
This all would be part of “urgent measures to contain the contagion” in the Lombardy region and 13 other districts in the Veneto, Piemonte and Emilia Romagna regions in the country’s north.
Weddings, funerals and cultural events all would be banned under the measures. Failing to keep the required distance of 1 meter, including in sporting events, bars and supermarkets, could lead to the shuttering of businesses and criminal charges.
Police officers and soldiers would be empowered to enforce containment measures. Churches could remain open, but Masses would be off limits and the faithful would have to stay at least one meter apart from one another.
A Lombardy official confirmed that the measures being discussed essentially would close down the northern region, Italy’s largest and most productive, which accounts for a fifth of Italy’s GDP.
Matteo Caroli, a professor of business management at Luiss Guido Carli University in Rome, said that if “the measures go beyond April, the situation will become systemic and the damage serious.”
Last week the government announced another support package of $8.5 billion for families and business damaged by the virus.
Leaked reports of the draft late Saturday prompted panic in Milan but also resistance and anger from mayors and regional presidents across the political spectrum in the northern areas.
But there were clear signs the virus was spreading southward. Earlier Saturday, it touched the top of Italian politics as the leader of the governing coalition’s Democratic Party said he was infected. “Well, it’s arrived,” Nicola Zingaretti, the leader of the Democratic Party and the president of the region of Lazio, said in a Facebook video. “I also have the coronavirus.”
The infection of Zingaretti, who’s based in Rome, provided vivid proof that the entire country now was grappling with a public health emergency.
Zingaretti, the head of the country’s largest center-left party and one of the two parties leading Italy, has daily contact with top politicians in the capital as well as his party’s rank-and-file members.
Already, some members of Italy’s Parliament who come from the locked-down areas in the Lombardy region have been quarantined.