“There is no more time,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said in a TV address.
3/10/20 – Italy has now moved to nationwide lock down and has moved from the third worst affected country behind China to the second.The BBC writes:
On Monday, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte ordered people to stay home and seek permission for essential travel.
He said the measures were designed to protect the most vulnerable. “There is no more time,” he said in a TV address.
Italy’s coronavirus death toll jumped from 366 to 463 on Monday. It is the worst-hit country after China.
The number of confirmed infection also increased by 24% from Sunday, official figures showed.
Cases of the virus have been confirmed in all 20 Italian regions.
The Washington Post writes:
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Monday that Italy would restrict freedom of movement on a scale unprecedented in a democracy, locking down the entire country — 60 million people — in an attempt to contain the accelerating coronavirus.
The decision, announced in an evening address, indicates that Italian policymakers are convinced that hard-line measures offer the best chance to slow the virus. If Italy succeeds, a version of its tactics could be used in other countries where cases are multiplying, including across Europe, where cross-border movement is a cherished right for many citizens.
“We all must give something up for the sake of Italy,” said Conte, adding that the country’s health system was at risk.
Entering last weekend, Italy had imposed relatively minor restrictions on movement — quarantining 11 small towns near the epicenter of the outbreak with a total population of 50,000. The Italian government had also closed schools nationally. Then, early Sunday, Italy took its first drastic move against the virus, with Conte announcing a plan to lock down areas around the virus’s epicenter in the north, with travel restrictions applying to 16 million people.
But with the latest moves, which will take effect Tuesday and remain in place until at least April 3, Italy is going far further, upending the last vestiges of normalcy, ensuring a bruising recession and testing the limits of what a democracy can do during peacetime.
Italy’s hope is to cut off its citizens, no matter where they live, from most kinds of travel, including abroad and from one region in the country to another. Italians will be permitted to travel only for essential work, health reasons or other emergencies.
Prepare now with at least a month of food and water, and supplies of natural remedies to support your body before you get sick, and that will help if you do get sick.
Shalom.
–ShofarChick
SOURCES:
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51810673
ShofarBlast.org 