Reuters, Milan :
Italy’s northern region of Lombardy said on Friday it wanted to extend emergency measures adopted last week to try to contain Europe’s worst outbreak of coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases soared.
Warning that the health system could be thrown into chaos if the contagion spread rapidly, Lombardy asked the government to keep curbs in place for an additional week, including shutting schools and banning public gatherings.
“This is not …a situation that can be easily resolved,” Massimo Galli, head of the infectious-diseases department at Milan’s Sacco hospital,
told a news conference alongside regional leaders. Underscoring the difficulties facing the country, officials said its number of confirmed cases had jumped to 888 from 650 on Thursday, of whom 21 had died.
The outbreak emerged last week 60 km (40 miles) from Italy’s financial capital Milan. Authorities identified a cluster of towns in Lombardy and a smaller zone in the neighbouring region of Veneto as the epicentre of the flare-up and placed 50,000 inhabitants under quarantine.
They also implemented a general clampdown across much of the affluent north, ordering the closure of universities, museums, theatres and cinemas, leading to an exodus of tourists and business travellers and triggering fears of a likely recession.
As the economic pain has deepened, the government has come under pressure to restore a sense of normality but Lombardy warned against complacency.
“If this outbreak spreads, hospitals will face a serious crisis, not only for the coronavirus admissions but for all patients,” the region said in a statement.
Italy’s northern region of Lombardy said on Friday it wanted to extend emergency measures adopted last week to try to contain Europe’s worst outbreak of coronavirus as the number of confirmed cases soared.
Warning that the health system could be thrown into chaos if the contagion spread rapidly, Lombardy asked the government to keep curbs in place for an additional week, including shutting schools and banning public gatherings.
“This is not …a situation that can be easily resolved,” Massimo Galli, head of the infectious-diseases department at Milan’s Sacco hospital,
told a news conference alongside regional leaders. Underscoring the difficulties facing the country, officials said its number of confirmed cases had jumped to 888 from 650 on Thursday, of whom 21 had died.
The outbreak emerged last week 60 km (40 miles) from Italy’s financial capital Milan. Authorities identified a cluster of towns in Lombardy and a smaller zone in the neighbouring region of Veneto as the epicentre of the flare-up and placed 50,000 inhabitants under quarantine.
They also implemented a general clampdown across much of the affluent north, ordering the closure of universities, museums, theatres and cinemas, leading to an exodus of tourists and business travellers and triggering fears of a likely recession.
As the economic pain has deepened, the government has come under pressure to restore a sense of normality but Lombardy warned against complacency.
“If this outbreak spreads, hospitals will face a serious crisis, not only for the coronavirus admissions but for all patients,” the region said in a statement.
