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HEALTH

Almost all Italians support government lockdown measures, poll finds

A poll found 96 percent of Italians were in favour of the closures and quarantine measures enforced by the government in response to the coronavirus crisis.

Published: 19 March 2020 17:15 CET
Almost all Italians support government lockdown measures, poll finds
Central Rome on March 19. Photo: Filippo MONTEFORTE/AFP

Italy braced Thursday for an extended lockdown in attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus, as the death toll in Italy looks set to match that in China.

Italy has recorded a total of 2,978 deaths, after a record 475 more fatalities were reported on Wednesday — the highest official one-day figure in the world.

READ ALSO: 'Stay at home': Italy's coronavirus quarantine rules explained

China reported no new infections for the first time on Thursday, and Italy seems on course to overtake its 3,245 fatalities later in the day.

Photo: AFP

It will take days or weeks yet before Italy sees the numbers of infected and deceased peak and stop rising after the government mplemented the quarantine measures, experts said.

While the far-reaching measures mean people in Italy are confined to their homes most of the time and almost all shops and businesses have had to close, a poll found overwhelming support for the government's decision.A poll published in La Repubblica newspaper found 96 percent of all Italians viewed the closure of most business and all schools and public institutions “positively” or “very positively” and just four percent said they were opposed.

While the measures are not as extreme as those taken in China's quarantine of Wuhan's Hubei province, they still seemed unimaginable for a Western democracy until this month.

“Use your common sense and act with utmost caution,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Italians on Thursday. “We are not underestimating anything and always acting based on the worst-case scenario.”

Medical staff at a temporary emergency facility outside a hospital in Lombardy. Photo: AFP

Conte has layered on the measures in segments and some of the strictest ones – such as the closure of all shops except for grocery stores and pharmacies – had been due to expire next Wednesday.

But the Italian leader said on Thursday morning that there was no question that everything “must be extended beyond the original deadline”.

This also means schools will not re-open on April 3 and working parents will have to find ways to look after their kids while working from home for many more weeks or months.

READ ALSO: What life under quarantine is really like around Italy

“At the moment, there are no other far-reaching restrictive measures being considered,” said Conte.

“But if our prohibitions are not respected, we will have to act.”

Italy is imposing 206-euro ($222) fines for anyone found wandering the streets without a valid reason, such as grocery shopping or getting to and from work.

Police in various Italian cities have been reading instructions over megaphones for everyone to “stay home and maintain distance” from each other.

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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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