Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte expanded extending restrictions in southern provinces to now include northern provinces. An entire lockdown is now underway in Italy as the Coronavirus continues to spread throughout the country. The Prime Minister is initiating extreme measures in an attempt to preserve the population and not increase the present death count of 463 persons. Italy’s hospital crisis unit in Northern Lombardy is overrun with patients as the number of cases continually steep upwards from the already existing 9,172 cases. Hospitals are scrambling to free up beds within their crisis units and have been forced to create make-shift assistance areas in the corridors. Lombardy President Attilio Fontana fears that the new lockdown measures still may not be enough as the contagion continues to spread. Passengers on cruise ships landing in Vienna are not allowed to disperse within the city. Instead, they must return to their residences or places of origin. The contagion is causing prisons to be overrun with inmates increasing the safety hazard of officers and those who live around the area.
Infected case numbers continue to rise despite there already being 108,000 confirmed cases and 3,821 deaths worldwide. Signs of improvement have increased in Asia, specifically China and South Korea. Conversely, the outbreak of the Coronavirus in the United States and Europe continues to worsen. Under the original lockdown schools, bars, nightclubs, and restaurants were all expected to close. However, religious ceremonies such as funerals and weddings were to be postponed until further notice. Shopping areas like malls and stores are only allowed to be open for 12 hours on weekdays provided they could guarantee a 3 feet radius between each client. Hence, the economy in Italy is suffering.
Read More: All of Italy is in lockdown as coronavirus cases rise