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POVERTY

Coronavirus crisis leaves ‘700,000 children in Italy without enough to eat’

The coronavirus crisis in Italy is depriving around 700,000 children of sufficient food, the country's main farmers' organisation said on Sunday.

Published: 11 May 2020 10:39 CEST
Coronavirus crisis leaves '700,000 children in Italy without enough to eat'
Children play in Rome during Italy's coronavirus lockdown. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

Economic hardship due to the health crisis had been made worse by the closure of schools, meaning that children from poor families no longer had access to canteen lunches, Coldiretti said.

“The number of children under 15 that need assistance to get milk or food is now 700,000,” it said in a statement.

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People being plunged into poverty by the crisis included dependents of seasonal and temporary workers, small business owners and tradesmen, it said.

Undocumented workers were also hard hit as typically they had no savings and did not qualify for state help.

Southern Italy was most-affected by the increase in numbers of those facing hardship.

READ ALSO: Solidarity food baskets hang from Naples balconies to help those in need

Compounding the problem were rising food prices, with Coldiretti reporting an increase of 8.4 percent for fruit, 5.0 percent for vegetables and 4.1 percent for milk in April.

Meanwhile, hundreds of charitable associations across Italy are trying to help the poor.

Coldiretti said 39 percent of Italians surveyed indicated they were ready to support their efforts with donations of money or food.

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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.”

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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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