Italy Places Entire Country Under Quarantine To Fight Spread of Coronavirus

• Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has declared a nationwide lockdown in an attempt to further prevent the spread of coronavirus.
• The total number of infected individuals in the country has now exceeded 12,000.

The government of Italy has implemented extreme measures to curb the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19). Just last Monday, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has declared that the entire country is officially under quarantine.

Previously, Italy implemented a “red zone” lockdown for Lombardy and other northern provinces, placing 16 million people in quarantine. Now the authorities have taken things into the next level by expanding the restriction to all areas.

According to Conte, this means residents are reminded to stay home. Only those reporting for work or heading for emergencies are permitted to go outdoors. Most public gatherings are also not allowed.

“No more nightlife,” declared the Prime Minister. “We can’t allow this anymore since they are occasions for contagion.”

Meanwhile, Foreign Affairs Minister Luigi Di Maio said that the “same precautionary measures” applied to Lombardy will now be adapted “in each region” of the country.

In Wednesday, China sent a special team of doctors to Italy. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said the medical professionals are “ready to share their experience” to help Italy deal with the crisis. The team also brought with them some much-needed medical equipment such as pulmonary ventilators, face masks, and hazmat suits, reported VICE.

As of this writing, Italy already has 12,462 confirmed cases of coronavirus. 827 individuals have succumbed to the disease.

The World Health Organization, on the other hand, has declared he coronavirus outbreak as a global pandemic as it has already reached all continents in the world, except Antarctica.

As Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus admitted:

“We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a coronavirus… In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of cass, the number of deaths and the number of affected countries to climb even higher.”