Italy poised to lock down Lombardy after coronavirus jump

[rooster59]

Italy poised to lock down Lombardy after coronavirus jump

By Giulia Segreti and Gavin Jones

 

Military and policemen are seen inside Milan's main train station as Italian authorities prepare to lock down Lombardy to prevent the spread of the highly infectious coronavirus in Milan, Italy, March 7, 2020. REUTERS/Alex Fraser

 

ROME (Reuters) - Italy is set to impose a virtual lockdown on its wealthiest and most populous region, which includes the financial capital Milan, as part of tough new measures to try to contain the coronavirus outbreak.

 

The new rules include telling people not to enter or leave Lombardy, which is home to some 10 million people, as well as 11 provinces in four of Italy's 19 other regions, according to a draft decree seen by Reuters.

 

All museums, gyms, cultural centres, ski resorts and swimming pools will be shut in the targeted areas, according to the decree, which was due to come into force from Sunday but was delayed after local politicians asked for more time to review the restrictions.

 

The head of the civil protection agency said on Saturday the decree would be presented later in the day, after data showed the number of coronavirus infections jumped by more than 1,200 in the past 24 hours.

 

However, at midnight Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had still not signed off on it, after the leaked draft prompted pushback from the governors of Lombardy and Emilia-Romagna, another region affected.

 

So far, only a few limited areas of northern Italy, known as "red zones", have been quarantined.

 

If the draft is approved, leave will be cancelled for all healthcare workers, weddings, funerals and sports events suspended, and home working should be adopted as much as possible.

 

The 11 provinces affected are those around Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia and Rimini in the region of Emilia-Romagna - Venice, Padua and Treviso in the region of Veneto - Asti and Alessandria in Piedmont - and the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the central region of Marche.

 

All schools and universities will be closed in Lombardy and the listed provinces until at least April 3. This week, the government announced schools all over the country would be closed until March 15.

 

The epidemic is already weighing hard on Italy's struggling economy and Rome has pledged to spend 7.5 billion euros ($8.5 billion) to tackle the outbreak and its consequences.

 

'WE WILL WIN'

 

The decree instructs citizens to "absolutely avoid" either entering or leaving the areas listed, and even to avoid moving around other than for emergencies or "essential work reasons" within the designated areas.

 

Cafes and restaurants will be allowed to stay open as long as a distance of one metre between customers can be guaranteed.

 

The number of coronavirus cases in Italy, Europe's worst-hit country, reached 5883 on Saturday, the civil protection agency said, the biggest daily rise since the epidemic began just over two weeks ago.

 

Deaths due to the highly infectious virus were up 36 to 233, the head of the agency, Angelo Borrelli, told a news conference.

 

The disease was first confirmed in Italy 15 days ago and remains mainly centred on northern regions, especially Lombardy, but cases have now been confirmed in each of the country's 20 regions, with deaths recorded in eight of them.

 

On Friday, the government approved a plan to employ up to 20,000 new doctors and nurses to respond to the emergency.

 

Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto represent 85% of national cases overall and 92% of recorded deaths.

 

"We will win this battle if our citizens adopt a responsible attitude and change their way of living," Borrelli said

In the worst affected areas, Italy's hospitals are under growing strain. The number of patients in intensive care rose to 567, up 23% from the day before.

 

Of those originally infected, 589 have fully recovered.

 

National Health Institute chief Silvio Brusaferro said the average age of patients who have died was over 81. They were prevalently male and more than 80% had more than two underlying health conditions.

 

The outbreak has killed more than 3,400 people worldwide and spread across more than 90 nations outside China.

 

(Editing by James Drummond and David Clarke)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-08

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[DrTuner]

'We will win this battle if our citizens adopt a responsible attitude and change their way of living'

 

While I'm not into the conspiracy theories, this virus seems tailor fit to raise the average IQ.

[DaRoadrunner]

9 hours ago, rooster59 said:

the number of coronavirus infections jumped by more than 1,200 in the past 24 hours.

 

9 hours ago, rooster59 said:

The number of coronavirus cases in Italy, Europe's worst-hit country, reached 5883 on Saturday,

 

Do the math, this virus spreads far more quickly than was originally thought. It makes me totally disbelieve the Thai Govt figures.

[zhounan]

Quote

'We will win this battle if our citizens adopt a responsible attitude and change their way of living'

This is social engineering, we should worry about it.

[puipuitom]

Too little too late.

 

When you punt 11 villages/small towns in quarantaine, but you do not enforce it enough, so a TV crew from Slovenia goes in and out to make a report, interviews etc ( Sat 22 Feb on many TV networks in Europe ( like Dutch RTL at 19:30 ) , yes, money goes first), when civilians go to do shopping outside the quarantained zone, do not be surprized, when it has zero effect and now all over Europe people from Lombardia and Veneto are infected. 

Edited March 8, 2020 by puipuitom

[Nyezhov]

34 minutes ago, scorecard said:

So how come US folks are allowed to cook Italian food?

Because thats where Italian food comes from: NYC and NJ

[metisdead]

A post containing unverified information has been removed as well as the replies.  Just because you found it on Twitter does not make it a verifiable source anyway.  

[scorecard]

37 minutes ago, Nyezhov said:

Because thats where Italian food comes from: NYC and NJ

Really, well I learn something new every day, I always thought Italian food was from China; noodles etc.  

[Assurancetourix]

12 hours ago, scorecard said:

Really, well I learn something new every day, I always thought Italian food was from China; noodles etc.  

Italian food is Italian;
apart from milk powder "human consumption" for the Ferrero factory  in Alba , province of Cuneo which manufactures Nutella and "Mon Cheri" which comes mainly from France by trucks passing through the Mt Blanc tunnel .( 11,6 k long )
Ditto for the food of cows and calves which also comes mainly from France in the form of milk powder in bags or in bulk;
.
Thousands of trucks every day;
When I was a truck driver and I went to Italy every week from 1973 to 1983, I had to make a health visit at the Aosta airport; Every day there were over a thousand semi-trailers and truck-trailers in the parking lot waiting for the necessary documents to be given to them so that they could go and deliver their goods.

 

There are also many trucks that go to Italy by Ventimiglia, on the edge of the Mediterranean ...
and then the thousands of mainly German and Austrian trucks that have passed through the Gotthard tunnel (16.9 km) since 1980; previously they passed, in summer, through the pass at 2.106 m above sea level.