Measures come after a greater increase in the number of infected people
Italy's richest and most populous region will be isolated from the rest of the country: the government decided, on Saturday night (07), to “close” Lombardy, where around 10 million people live and where the country's financial capital, Milan, is located, in an attempt to stop the coronavirus outbreak. The decree was signed at 3 am – 23 pm Brasília time.
The dramatic measures also apply to 14 other provinces in four regions, covering around 16 million people – equivalent to 1/4 of the Italian population –, and come after the country registered the biggest increase in the number of infected people since the beginning of the outbreak: 1247 new cases confirmed in the last 24 hours, for a total of 5883. After two weeks of outbreak, SARS-COV-2 spread across 20 regions: all recorded cases and eight had deaths.
The other provinces that have become a “red zone” are Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Rimini, Pesaro and Urbino, Venezia, Padova, Treviso, Asti, Alessandria, Novara, Vercelli and Verbano Cusio Ossola.
In the areas covered by these new measures, all museums, cultural centers, gyms, swimming pools and ski resorts will be closed. Schools will remain closed until April 3.
Cultural, recreational, sporting and religious events are also suspended, both in public and private places, with weddings and civil or religious funerals being cancelled. Cafes and restaurants can remain open as long as they maintain a distance of one meter from customers.
The decree says that everyone must “completely avoid” entering or leaving the indicated regions, and even traveling within the regions, except in the case of emergencies or “essential work”.
The Covid-19 outbreak, detected in December in China, has already caused more than 3500 deaths among more than 101 infected people in at least 94 countries. Based on the global number of infected people, the fatality rate is 3,4%, and so far the majority have recovered.
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