Leaked
coronavirus plan to quarantine 16m sparks chaos in Italy
Thousands
tried to flee south after decree to confine people until 3 April was revealed
Angela
Giuffrida in Rome and Lorenzo Tondo in Palermo
Sun 8 Mar
2020 15.54 GMTLast modified on Sun 8 Mar 2020 21.15 GMT
Italy
experienced its highest day-on-day rise in deaths from coronavirus on Sunday
and was plunged into chaos after details of a plan to quarantine more than 16
million people were leaked to the press, sending thousands into panic as they
tried to flee.
The whole
of Lombardy, including its financial capital of Milan, and 14 provinces across
the worst-affected northern regions, have been shut down until 3 April as Italy
grapples to contain the spread of a virus as deaths rose from 233 to 366, a
rise of more than 50% in 24 hours, with 6,387 current cases overall.
Thousands
crowded train stations or jumped into their cars after details of a draft
decree banning people from leaving or entering the region were revealed by
Corriere della Sera late on Saturday afternoon.
On Sunday
morning dozens of police officers and medics wearing masks and hazmat suits
waited in Salerno, Campania, for passengers who had boarded overnight trains
from Lombardy as fears mount over the virus’s potential spread to the south.
“What
happened with the news leak has caused many people to try to escape, causing
the opposite effect of what the decree is trying to achieve,” warned Roberto
Burioni, a professor of microbiology and virology at the Vita-Salute San
Raffaele University in Milan. “Unfortunately some of those who fled will be
infected with the disease.”
The
northern regions of Lombardy, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto account for 85% of the
cases and more than 90% of the deaths. Puglia in the south has had 26 cases,
while the provinces of Basilicata and Calabria have had just three and four
cases.
A medical
officer on board a high-speed train in Salerno during checks on passengers from
the red zone.
“Get off at the first train station, don’t
take planes to Bari and Brindisi, go back by car, get off the bus at the next
stop,” he wrote on Facebook, mostly addressing people from the region who live
in the north. “Do not bring the Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia epidemic to your
Puglia. You are carrying the virus into the lungs of your brothers and sisters,
your grandparents, uncles, cousins and parents.”
Under the
decree police and armed forces will patrol Lombardy’s access points, such as
train stations and motorway entrances and exits, as well as border areas of the
14 provinces under lockdown across Emilia-Romagna, the second-worst outbreak
zone, Veneto and Piedmont. The
provinces include Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Rimini, Pesaro and
Urbino, Alessandria, Asti, Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Vercelli, Padua,
Treviso and Venice.
People will
only be able to leave the areas for emergency reasons and face fines and up to
three months in jail for breaking the quarantine rules. There has been some local
opposition to the measures, including from the head of Veneto, Luca Zaia, who
described the inclusion of three provinces in his region, including Venice, as
“scientifically disproportionate”.
Checkpoints
at motorways, train stations and airports are expected to be introduced on
Sunday evening but the impact on flights is unclear, with local judicial
authorities to decide whether to suspend or not. Alitalia on Sunday said it
would suspend all national and international flights from Milan’s Malpensa airport
and operate only a reduced service for domestic flights from the city’s Linate
airport.
Top flight
Serie A football matches were played behind closed doors despite a call from
the country’s sports minister to stop the championship.
Some of
those who remained in the quarantine area expressed support for the measures to
contain Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak. “Of course, I feel a little
anxious and scared,” said Alessia Scoma, 30, a business consultant in Milan.
“But I agree with this measure and I feel ashamed for those who left Lombardy
and fled so irresponsibly. They risk infecting their loved ones and this is
something that, in their shoes, I could never forgive myself.”
Prison
riots however erupted in Modena and Frosinone when the inmates were informed
that the new emergency decree bans visits from relatives.
Outside the
quarantine area there was concern for those now unable to leave. “My mother
stayed in Bergamo,” said Francesca Nava, 45, a journalist in Rome. “She is 70
years old and has survived a serious illness. The idea of not being able to
reach her, for weeks, or maybe months, the idea that something might happen to
her, this feeling of total impotence, leaves me breathless.”
The decree
was approved by all national political parties and approved by the council of
ministers on Sunday afternoon.
“The fact
that the epidemic is still increasing substantially obliges us to take these
measures to limit the freedom of people, which of course are very extreme
measures that I don’t think have ever been taken in any other democratic
country,” Walter Ricciardi, an adviser to the Italian health ministry on the
coronavirus outbreak and member of the World Health Organization, told the
Guardian.
“We have to
be responsible and being responsible means taking measures in the interest of
people, even if sometimes it is hard to understand.”
The leak of
the decree and ensuing panic however sparked harsh criticism from officials.
Ricciardi, who was among the team of scientists who signed it, said that he
assumed it must have leaked when the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, sent the
draft to the regions to get their consent. “It means that sometimes both people
from the institutions and people from the press do not feel a sense of
responsibility,” he said. “These kinds of procedures have to be taken very
confidentially in order not to provoke panic among the people and inappropriate
behaviours.”
Conte said
the news leak was “unacceptable”. “This news created uncertainty, insecurity
and confusion, and we cannot tolerate this,” he said during a press conference
in the early hours of Sunday.
Schools and
universities were already closed across Italy, but the decree closes cinemas,
museums, theatres, gyms, swimming pools and ski resorts will now be closed in
the new quarantine zones.
Bars and
restaurants can only open between 6am and 6pm, while shops must guarantee that
customers stand at least one metre apart. Weddings and funerals have also been
banned in the areas affected. It is unclear how the measures will affect
commercial trade in the regions. Public transport services within all
territories under quarantine are expected to continue.
As
coronavirus takes hold of the country, Beppe Sala, the mayor of Milan, called
for a “change of lifestyle”. “We need to avoid contacts that are not strictly
necessary,” he said in a video on Facebook. “Please, remain in your homes as
much as you can.”
The
coronavirus outbreak is wreaking havoc on Italy’s already fragile economy,
especially as the northern regions produce the largest share of the country’s
GDP. The government on Thursday approved a €7.5bn (£6.5bn) package of financial
measures to help the economy withstand the impact.
“We are
facing an emergency but locking down a quarter of the country will cause
immeasurable damage to Italian families,” added Sala. “People risk losing their
jobs. I expect the government to move quickly to make the funds available. Like
it or not, Milan is the heart of this country.”
Other major
cities, including Rome, have also emptied out, but in many places beyond the
outbreak zones people are mostly going about their daily lives.
Burioni
said lifestyle sacrifices needed to be made to halt the spread of the virus.
“The most important thing at this time is that each and every one of us stay
home,” he added. “As much as possible we need to avoid social contact that is
not strictly necessary. We all have the responsibility to do what is necessary
to prevent the spread. We’ve seen rigorous behaviour in China that has had a
very good impact – we need to do the same.”
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