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HEALTH

Coronavirus: Spike in reports of ‘racist’ abuse of Chinese people in Italy

Prominent figures in Chinese communities in Italy warned on Thursday of episodes of "latent racism" against their compatriots by Italians fearful of a deadly virus which originated in China.

Published: 30 January 2020 16:57 CET
Coronavirus: Spike in reports of 'racist' abuse of Chinese people in Italy
Chinese passengers at Rome's Fiumicino airport this week. Photo: AFP

There have been no confirmed cases of coronavirus in Italy at the time of writing.

Tensions increased after some 7,000 people were held on a cruise ship in an Italian port following the isolation of two Chinese passengers over fears they could be carrying the coronavirus, despite preliminary tests coming up negative.

READ ALSO: How concerned should you be about the coronavirus in Italy?

Italian newspapers have reported cases of bullying or discrimination against Chinese people following the outbreak of the disease, which has now killed 170 in China and has spread abroad, with at least 15 countries confirming infections.

“It's extremely unpleasant, absurd, and infuriating,” Francesco Wu, a member of the Italian Business Association Confcommercio, often called on to speak for the 30,000-strong Chinese community in Milan, told La Stampa daily.

Racist episodes reportedly included Chinese tourists being spat at in Venice, a family in Turin being accused of carrying the disease, and mothers in Milan using social media to call for Italian children to be kept away from Chinese classmates.

“It's totally unjustified and it hurts even more because it involves children. It's a mix of ignorance and latent racism,” Wu said.

Photo: AFP

Local health officials have sent the schools concerned a letter stating that “there is no need to introduce measures restricting the presence of Chinese children within school communities,” according to AGI.

Chinese journalist Hu Lanbo, who has lived in Italy for 30 years and who runs the “China in Italy” monthly, published an open letter “to Italian friends”.

READ ALSO: Telling migrants to “go home” is racism, rules Italy's top court

“Believing that one can catch the new coronavirus at the mere sight of a Chinese person really makes no sense,” she said.

There were some 300,000 Chinese nationals living in Italy at the end of 2018, according to the National Statistics Institute (Istat).

Milan mayor Giuseppe Sala said Chinese tourism – worth some 300 million euros ($331,000) a month to the city between hotels, shopping and restaurants – was down 40 percent compared to before the virus.

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HEALTH

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Published: 11 September 2023 12:48 CEST
Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

READ ALSO:

Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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