76 cases in five regions of central and northern Italy, all alarms on and an extraordinary Council of Ministers with shock measures to try to contain the contagion of the coronavirus. The Italian Government, meeting urgently for several hours on Saturday afternoon, has passed a decree law to try to contain the expansion of the coronavirus in the transalpine country. The Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, has explained that Rome restricts the mobility of the main sources of contagion, which affects 11 locations at the moment under the threat of sanctions. "In the areas of the [contagion] outbreaks, entry and exit are prohibited. Labor activities and demonstrations are suspended. And there will be no sport in Veneto and Lombardy," said Conte bluntly.
The decree law, signed when the third economy of the eurozone already counts two deaths from this virus, obliges residents in these areas to remain in them until further notice (which in no case will arrive before two weeks). Those affected will be discharged from work and should circumscribe their movements to matters of first necessity. Something that until now not everyone was fulfilling, as the prime minister detailed in the press conference. All this, in addition, under the threat of sanctions: this regulation will have criminal consequences for those who do not respect it and leave the isolation zones, in Lombardy (10 municipalities) and Veneto (one), which together affect some 50,000 people.
"The entry and exit [of the locations located in the outbreaks of infection] will not be allowed, except for specific exceptions that are periodically evaluated," he stressed at midnight, after more than six hours of meeting with his Cabinet. "The objective is to protect the health of Italians; the welfare of citizens occupies the first place of our constitutional values," he said. The decree, approved urgently this Saturday, will also affect the youngest: the approved measures allow the suspension of educational trips from schools, both inside Italy and abroad.
Italy is already the European country with the highest number of people infected by Covid-19. To enforce all the measures proposed by the decree law, Conte has said that it will even have the intervention of the Police. "Obviously we will have controls [so that the measures are respected]. We have already given a mandate to the Police and, if necessary, we will activate the Armed Forces. But we have a lot of confidence in the collaboration of the citizens," explained the Prime Minister .
At the aforementioned emergency meeting, border management has also been discussed as several regions that have cases of contagion from Covid-19 - Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto - border on other EU partners. Although cases have also been detected in Emilia-Romagna and Rome, according to Italian media, the outbreaks of infection are further north. For the moment, as Conte announced, "no measures will be put in place to request the suspension of the Schengen Treaty and, in particular, the free movement of persons." In silver: there will be no border controls, at least for now. The Prime Minister has also announced that in the coming days the Government will approve a second decree with various subsidies and measures to compensate and remedy the economic difficulties arising from this crisis.
