Italy extends coronavirus lockdown to whole country as new cases surge

[webfact]

Italy extends coronavirus lockdown to whole country as new cases surge

By Crispian Balmer, Angelo Amante and Gavin Jones

 

FILE PHOTO: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte speaks to media as he announces a decree that will close cinemas, schools in order to contain the coronavirus, in Rome, Italy March 4, 2020. REUTERS/Remo Casilli

 

ROME (Reuters) - The whole of Italy will be placed under lockdown until next month, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced on Monday, in an unprecedented and unexpected new attempt to beat coronavirus in Europe's worst-affected country.

 

Conte told reporters that measures introduced just two days ago in much of the north were no longer sufficient after a jump in deaths tied to the highly infectious disease, and said the entire nation had to make sacrifices to stop its spread.

 

"The right decision today is to stay at home. Our future and the future of Italy is in our hands. These hands have to be more responsible today than ever before," Conte said, adding that the norms would come into force on Tuesday.

 

Italy's 60 million people will only be able to travel for work, medical reasons or emergencies until April 3. All schools and universities, which were closed nationwide last week until March 15, will now not reopen before next month.

 

The contagion only came to light near Italy's financial capital Milan on Feb. 21. Since then there have been some 9,172 confirmed cases and 463 deaths, putting the national health system under massive strain.

 

Conte said all outdoor public gatherings would be forbidden and announced that all sports events, including top flight Serie A soccer matches, would be suspended, throwing the closely watched championship into disarray.

 

Italy’s government will further increase spending in a “massive shock therapy” to offset the economic impact of the coronavirus outbreak, the prime minister said on Monday. Soraya Ali reports.

 

"We don't have any time. The numbers are showing that there has been a significant growth in infections, people in intensive care and deaths," he said in a somber address. "Our habits have to change right now. We must give things up for Italy."

 

Struggling to contain the outbreak, Italy imposed strict controls on travel from the northern region of Lombardy and parts of neighboring Veneto, Piedmont and Emilia-Romagna on Sunday. Those restrictions were now being extended so the same rules would govern the whole country, Conte said.

 

The government has already ordered cinemas, theaters and museums to close and told shops and restaurants to ensure that patrons remained at least a meter (yard) apart.

 

All restaurants and bars will now have to close at 6 p.m. (1700 GMT) and all Alpine ski resorts must shut. However, public transport would remain operational throughout Italy.

 

JAIL RIOT

The curbs announced at the weekend had already taken their toll on Milan, with its streets much quieter than normal on Monday and many smaller shops and cafes closed. Even among those left open, most remained empty.

 

"There's been nobody at all. I've never seen anything like it," said a shop assistant at the Rinascente department store in the city center.

 

The most dramatic knock-on effect from the coronavirus crisis was seen in Italy's overcrowded prisons where inmates rioted in jails across the country after visiting rights were cut to fight the virus. Seven inmates died in the chaos, which started at the weekend, the justice ministry said.

 

With the country already on the brink of recession, the government's steps have come at a huge cost for the eurozone's third-largest economy, which also has the bloc's second-biggest debt pile after Greece.

 

The Milan bourse, which was down some 17% since the outbreak in northern Italy, lost a further 11% on Monday, underperforming its regional peers.

 

News that the lockdown would be extended to the whole nation was made after markets had closed and could trigger fresh selling, raising the specter of past crises, with Italy's cost of borrowing already significantly higher than a week ago.

 

Government bond yields rose sharply on Monday, pushing the gap between Italy and benchmark German 10-year bond yields above 200 basis points for the first time since August 2019.

 

The government has already promised 7.5 billion euros ($8.57 billion) to alleviate the economic impact of the crisis, but Conte indicated that more money would be needed.

 

A government source said the Treasury was considering lifting the budget deficit to 2.8% of national output this year. It only announced last week that it planned to hike the deficit to 2.5% from a previous goal of 2.2%.

 

(Additional reporting by Giuseppe Fonte in Rome; James Mackenzie and Elvira Pollina in Milan; Editing by Janet Lawrence and Cynthia Osterman)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2020-03-10

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[webfact]

Italy imposes nationwide travel restrictions to contain coronavirus

By Press Association

 

Italian premier Giuseppe Conte has said he is 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 will 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.

 

Full story: https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/italy-imposes-nationwide-travel-restrictions-to-contain-coronavirus-986873.html

 

-- Breaking News 2020-03-10

[AlexRich]

I’m amazed that we haven’t seen more cases in Thailand? Perhaps amulets and making merit do work after all?

[Cryingdick]

Wonder how this is enforced? 

[Cryingdick]

Just now, AlexRich said:

I’m amazed that we haven’t seen more cases in Thailand? Perhaps amulets and making merit do work after all?

 

Perhaps ignorance is bliss. 

[Puchaiyank]

Some nationalities will refuse to visit Italy if they can not take a selfie at a historical monument enjoying a crackdown movement...????

Edited March 9, 2020 by Puchaiyank

[fruitman]

2 hours ago, AlexRich said:

I’m amazed that we haven’t seen more cases in Thailand? Perhaps amulets and making merit do work after all?

They are still under investigation.

[RichardColeman]

After letting everyone escape form the infected high risk areas and travel home, Italy is showing they have not learned from Wuhan

[bkk_mike]

3 hours ago, Cryingdick said:

 

Perhaps ignorance is bliss. 

If it had been spreading in Thailand as fast as Italy, even without mass testing, the increase in deaths would have shown up by now.

 

It seems more likely that, like seasonal flu, it doesn't like hot weather.

[DrTuner]

Ah, just a flu, man up, eh?

[DrTuner]

7 hours ago, bkk_mike said:

If it had been spreading in Thailand as fast as Italy, even without mass testing, the increase in deaths would have shown up by now.

I think it took three weeks in ICU for the first victim in Thailand to die. 1,789 were undorgoing treatment on 8th of March according to MoPH: https://ddc.moph.go.th/viralpneumonia/eng/file/situation/situation-no65-080363.pdf . That number started climbing I think 2 weeks ago? So give it a couple more weeks before drawing any conclusions. By the end of March there should be more info.

[zydeco]

Apparently, it takes one of these China type quarantines to stop the virus. That's what South Korea did. And now Italy is doing it. Italy! What happens in the US? I'm afraid of the answer.

[Yinn]

7 hours ago, bkk_mike said:

If it had been spreading in Thailand as fast as Italy, even without mass testing, the increase in deaths would have shown up by now.

 

It seems more likely that, like seasonal flu, it doesn't like hot weather.

And it like Italian people.

[DrTuner]

53 minutes ago, Yinn said:

And it like Italian people.

One vector could be eating habits, ie. sharing food on a common table. Seems to be common in mediterranean countries. And Isaan where they sit on a ring around the food and spittle is flying all around, they seem to only be able to speak with a mouthful. 

[DrTuner]

1 hour ago, zydeco said:

Apparently, it takes one of these China type quarantines to stop the virus. That's what South Korea did. And now Italy is doing it. Italy! What happens in the US? I'm afraid of the answer.

Trump's wall will become handy, but they have to build another one on the Canada border.

[zydeco]

3 minutes ago, DrTuner said:

Trump's wall will become handy, but they have to build another one on the Canada border.

Better to build one around DC.

[White Christmas13]

8 hours ago, bkk_mike said:

If it had been spreading in Thailand as fast as Italy, even without mass testing, the increase in deaths would have shown up by now.

 

It seems more likely that, like seasonal flu, it doesn't like hot weather.

So why is it people get a flu in summer in Australia when it is stinking hot?

[Lodestone]

6 hours ago, White Christmas13 said:

So why is it people get a flu in summer in Australia when it is stinking hot?

Possibly partly by infected visitors from cold weather countries (Northern Hemisphere) where it is currently flu season.

Edited March 10, 2020 by Lodestone

[URMySunshine]

The news from Korea where they have tested more people than the US is relatively encouraging and showing the fatality rate at 0.6%. So if 40% of the UK get it 350,000 may die. PHE published a report detailing how the flu caused 28,330 deaths in England between 2014 and 2015. So Coronavirus may end up being 10-15 times worse than flu which is still really bad. But most of those deaths will occur within a 10 week period and will be a grief experience far off the scale for most of us in modern times. In the US the figure maybe closer to 1.5 million. A tragedy that will touch most families or social networks.  

 

https://www.businessinsider.com/coronavirus-death-rate-by-country-2020-3?r=US&IR=T

[URMySunshine]

To the deniers time to shut up.

 

The doctor urged people not to describe Covid-19 as a bad case of the flu.

“Now, explain to me which flu virus causes such a rapid drama. … And while there are still people who boast of not being afraid by ignoring directions, protesting because their normal routine is ‘temporarily’ put in crisis, the epidemiological disaster is taking place,” he said.

“And there are no more surgeons, urologists, orthopedists, we are only doctors who suddenly become part of a single team to face this tsunami that has overwhelmed us.

 

https://nypost.com/2020/03/10/italian-doctor-at-heart-of-illness-shares-chilling-coronavirus-thoughts/

 

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8095835/Overwhelmed-Italian-hospitals-running-200-cent-capacity.html

Edited March 10, 2020 by URMySunshine