On 7 March 2020, two weeks after Patient 1, in a call with the most affected Italian regions, requested by the WHO, the Lombard welfare dg Luigi Cajazzo, "presented a rather alarming epidemiological picture" predicting by 26 March "2000 patients in intensive care".
He thus asked for "immediate restrictive measures" and to "close the borders of Lombardy", as it was a "matter of life and death".
But the WHO "showed hesitation" and doubts about the "scientific nature of the actions requested".
This can be read in the
report of Francesco Zambon, then a researcher of the Organization
, in the records of the Bergamo investigation into Covid.
In the minutes and attachments of the then head of the WHO research group stationed in Venice - his report was published and removed a few hours later from the Organization's website as it revealed that Italy was 'unprepared' and the Italian pandemic plan it was from 2006 and only "reconfirmed" in 2017 - the 'history' of those hours emerges in which the then general manager, in that call, asked the director of WHO Europe Hans Henri Kluge "to make sure that the voice of the Regions reached the Italian government and that WHO put pressure on it to adopt drastic containment measures, on the Chinese model, in a note supported by the exchange of e-mails, produced by the researcher, on that day and the following day.
Cajazzo said "that the situation, being extremely critical", required "immediate political attention and measures that" could "be carried forward only if approved at the central level. Measures also requested by Governor Attilio Fontana: in practice they wanted to extend the red zone already established in the Lodi area for the entire Region, including the closure of schools, offices, bars, the promotion of "teleworking", social distancing and the recommendation to over 65s "to stay at home". Kluge, always on that day, he asked Zambon for an opinion: "I expressed a favorable opinion - he reconstructs the note - for a closure even if this would have had enormous economic consequences.
I emphasized that the decision" should not be considered "political",
"Kluge only answered me several hours later" and "showed hesitation by advancing doubts about the scientificity" of the "requested action".
Furthermore, the WHO Europe director wrote to Mike Ryan, head of the health emergencies program, copying the general director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and his deputy Ranieri Guerra, on the requests of the Lombardy Region.
And "since no response came from Geneva (...) I tried to push WHO to pronounce itself (...) Kluge scolded me".
In the evening Ryan "finally replied, saying that a careful discussion was needed, that it was not necessary to enter into political issues in Italy, (...) that there were not enough data and that it was more appropriate not to interfere".
Guerra also "joined the" exchange of mails "
THE INVESTIGATIONS
This morning the documents sent by Bergamo for territorial jurisdiction and relating to the excerpt of the maxi investigation into Covid arrived at the Public Prosecutor's Office in Rome.
For the attention of the deputy prosecutor Paolo Ielo, a tranche of investigation which sees thirteen people enrolled in Bergamo, including the former health ministers
Speranza, Lorenzin, Grillo
and a series of technicians from the Ministry.
Against them, the Lombard prosecutors contested the failure to update the pandemic plan.
Among the crimes charged, depending on the positions, also the omission of official acts, forgery and fraud.
In the coming days, the Roman prosecutors will evaluate the positions and decide whether to proceed with the registration in the register of suspects in Rome.
