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Whole of Italy placed on lockdown as 97 more coronavirus patients die

Italian PM Giuseppe Conte announced on Monday that special measures will be imposed across the whole country including travel restrictions and a ban on gatherings in a bid to stem the spread of coronavirus (Paywall Free).

Whole of Italy placed on lockdown as 97 more coronavirus patients die
Rome's Colosseum is one of the tourist sites closed because of the coronavirus outbreak in Italy. Photo: Alberto Pizzoli/AFP

The measures had initially been imposed on certain regions in the north like Lombardy which has seen the biggest outbreak of the virus.

But on Monday evening, after it was announced the death toll had risen by 97 to 463, the prime minister said the measures would be imposed nationwide.

Those measures include banning all public gatherings and stopping travel other than for work and emergencies. 

“Today is our moment of responsibility. We cannot let our guard down,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said. 

“Everyone must give up something to protect the health of citizens.”

The prime minister urged people to “stay at home”.

Weddings and funerals were banned for more than three weeks although religious institutions will stay open and bars and restaurants were told to close at 6pm. Customers had to stay a metre apart. 

Conte said the measures, which will affect 60 million people, were needed to protect the country’s most vulnerable and people should now stay at home, Reuters news agency said. Businesses were urged to give their employees leave.

The decree came into force on Tuesday morning.

All sporting events will be suspended including Italy’s Serie A football league.

“I am going to sign a decree that can be summarised as follows: I stay at home,” Conte announced in a dramatic evening television address.

“The whole of Italy will become a protected zone,” he said.

Travel in and out of the country as well as movement between cities will be restricted.

But it was not immediately clear how all these measures will be imposed.

Trains and numerous flights continued to operate into and out of Milan on Monday despite the earlier set of restrictions for its Lombardy region.

The government had already moved to close schools and universities across the country as well as cinemas, theatres and gyms.

Another 1,897 cases were confirmed in the past 24 hours, Italy’s Civil Protection Department announced on Monday evening, bringing the total number of people confirmed to have contracted the new virus since the outbreak began to 9,172.

Of these, 463 have died, 97 of them in the past 24 hours. The majority of fatalities have been in people over 70, many of them with underlying health problems.

Another 724 people have recovered, 102 more than Sunday.

That left Italy with a total of 7,985 active cases as of Monday evening, an increase of 1,598 from the day before.

Italy has now recorded more than half of all the deaths reported outside China since the crisis first began to unfold at the end of last year.

The World Health Organisation added on Monday that around 70 percent of coronavirus patients in China have recovered.

ANALYSIS: Why have there been so many coronavirus deaths in Italy?


Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP

More than half of all active cases are in Lombardy, the north-western region placed on lockdown as part of unprecedented efforts to contain the outbreak.

At a press conference on Monday evening, Italy’s minister for regional affairs, Francesco Boccia, said the government was working to bring containment measures into line across the entire country – raising the prospect that strict restrictions on travel and public gatherings could be extended further south.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about the new quarantine measures in northern Italy

Certain precautions are already in place nationwide, including keeping children home from schools and closing museums, historic sites, cinemas and other venues likely to draw crowds.

The government announced on Monday that all Italian ski resorts would be closed from Tuesday morning as part of the containment effort.

Italy’s Olympic Committee (CONI) also recommended that all sporting events in Italy – including Serie A football matches – be suspended until April 3rd. 

READ ALSO: Life under lockdown: What’s it like to live in Italy’s coronavirus ‘orange zone’?

Lombardy now has 4,490 active cases of coronavirus. So far 646 people in the region have recovered, while 333 have died (66 in the past 24 hours).

More deaths were also reported in Emilia Romagna (+14), Veneto (+2), Piedmont (+8), Marche (+3), Lazio (+2), Liguria (+1) and Tuscany, which has now seen its first and so far only death from the COVID-19 virus.

While all 20 of Italy’s regions have now confirmed cases of coronavirus, the large majority of active cases are concentrated in Lombardy (4,490) and Emilia Romagna (1,286). 

No other region has more than 1,000 cases and 14 have fewer than 100 each.


Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

More than 2,900 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in Italy have only mild symptoms and are in self-isolation at home, while some 4,300 are receiving treatment in hospital.

Another 700 are currently in intensive care.

Italy has carried out nearly 54,000 tests for the virus so far. 

More than 70 percent of people who contracted COVID-19 in China have now recovered, according to the World Health Organization.

Most cases result in only mild symptoms, the WHO says. But the virus can be life-threatening to the elderly and people with pre-existing medical conditions including diabetes and high blood pressure.

READ ALSO: The everyday coronavirus precautions to take if you’re in Italy

Member comments

  1. Thank you for your stance on the coronavirus and making the news about the virus open to all. I have a subscription to The Local.it so I can be informed about news there as my partner lives in Italy. It has helped allay my concerns greatly knowing that I could get up-to-date and accurate information from Italy about what is happening there. Others who don’t have a subscription but who have loved ones there in Italy will appreciate your generosity greatly in the days and weeks ahead. Grazie mille!

  2. Hi Tim
    Its not as bad as it seems on the news, we are in Veneto and people are being sensible and life goes on.
    You can’t keep Italians away from caffe and pasticchio

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TOURISM

Flights, hotels, beaches: How the cost of travel to Italy is rising this summer

Inflation may now be falling but the price of a summer holiday in Italy has risen again - by up to 20 percent compared to last year.

Flights, hotels, beaches: How the cost of travel to Italy is rising this summer

Italian consumer rights groups said last year that the summer of 2023 would be remembered as “the most expensive ever” for travel. But 2024 has already smashed that record, according to the latest price surveys.

The rising cost of air fares, ferry tickets, hotels, restaurants and beach clubs add up to mean a holiday in Italy will be 15-20 percent more expensive this summer compared to last year, according to a survey conducted by the Assoutenti consumer research centre in June.

While price rises in recent years have been attributed to Covid and rising inflation, which is no longer thought to be a factor, this year Assoutenti said high demand was pushing up prices amid the post-pandemic tourism boom.

Prices in Italy were “out of control as a consequence of the resumption of tourism, after the stop imposed by Covid, and the record number of foreign visitors recorded in the last year,” the survey’s authors wrote, calling on the government to take measures to contain price increases.

READ ALSO: ltaly set for summer tourism boom as bookings increase again

They warned that more Italian families were likely to “give up the summer holidays this year, not being able to face an expense that increases from year to year,” and that those who do travel may book shorter trips to keep costs down.

Some 6.5 million Italians say they won’t be going on holiday this summer at all, with half citing economic difficulties, according to a separate survey commissioned by price comparison website Facile.it.

Meanwhile, there had been a nine percent increase this year in applications for personal loans for travel purposes, the survey found.

Flight prices

One of the biggest factors was the cost of air fares, as both domestic and international flights to and from Italy were found to be more expensive again this year.

While the cost of flights between European countries had fallen slightly following inflation-driven price hikes in 2023, Italy was bucking the trend.

Italy’s flight costs had risen instead, according to recent analysis in Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera, with the average price of a summer flight between Italy and the rest of Europe up by seven percent and domestic flights by 21 percent.

READ ALSO: Why are flight prices higher in Italy than the rest of Europe this summer?

Industry sources suggest the price increase is again down to unprecedented demand, while consumer groups say the main culprit is a lack of competition on the Italian market.

Transport costs

There were price hikes too for those using other modes of transport, with the rising cost of fuel and motorway tolls in Italy named as another contributing factor in the Assoutenti survey.

Ferry tickets were also more expensive, it found, with the average increase this August at +6.3 percent compared to 2023.

Hotels and B&Bs

For a family of four, the Assoutenti survey found the most expensive place to stay in Italy this summer was Porto Cervo, Sardinia, where the average price of a week’s three-star accommodation in August came to 3,500 euros.

The cheapest options were found to be Bibione, outside Venice (872 euros) and Rapallo in Liguria (909).

READ ALSO: Tourist tax: How much is it increasing in Italy’s cities this year?

The cost of accommodation at coastal destinations had risen by 23 percent on average overall, a separate survey by consumer group Altroconsumo found.

Hotels in cities were found to be a less expensive option, with most Italian families heading for the beach or mountains to escape the heat.

Restaurants

Adding to the overall cost, prices also continued to rise this year at restaurants in holiday resorts and at beach clubs: Assoutenti recorded an average increase for the catering sector of +3.5 percent on 2023.

Beaches

Renting sunbeds and umbrellas at Italy’s beach clubs is seen as a necessity by many Italian families – and often by international visitors too, given the lack of free options in many areas.

This too was becoming more expensive in 2024, with the average daily rate for a slot at one of Italy’s private beach clubs up by more than five percent on last year. Prices had also risen by as much as 11 percent between 2022 and 2023.

Beachgoers can now expect to pay around €30-35 for two sun loungers and a beach umbrella for the day on average, though prices can rise as high as €90 in Salento and €120 in parts of Sardinia.

Both private and free-access beaches in Italy also increasingly require advance booking due to higher demand.

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