Milan, Italy’s booming business capital, has become the epicenter of the country’s second wave of COVID-19 cases, further risking the country’s economic recovery that began to take hold following the end of the first wave. Italy was one of the first countries to suffer from the pandemic, however, it believed it had overcome the health crises in the spring. Milan is running out of hospital beds even after suspending nonurgent procedures and converting other-use wards into COVID-19 treatment centers.
On Friday, Milan and Lombardy were sealed off to travelers leaving and entering the region. Lombardy, a city of 10 million, has been seeing an average daily death toll of 115 over the past week. At the beginning of October, the average COVID-19 daily death rate was just 4. These areas are labeled as red zones, and all businesses are shut, as well as schools and restaurants. The government is planning to assess the lockdown in two weeks, hoping that cases subside by then.
Read More: In Italy’s Second Coronavirus Wave, Milan Staggers as Hospitals Fill Up
