Almost 800 dead in a single day. More than since the outbreak of the corona crisis. Italians watch in despair as all drastic measures against further spread of virus fail to yield results for now.
"It is the most serious crisis for the country since the second world war," said prime minister giuseppe conte on saturday. Faced with ever new record numbers of dead and infected, the country is taking another extreme step: closing all non-essential production.
Until the 3. April, in the third largest economy in the euro zone, all companies and factories that are not essential for daily life are to remain closed. On sunday, civil defense reported 651 additional deaths. Very much, but still less than the day before. It is hoped that this will continue in the next few days, said civil defense chief angelo borrelli.
"The death of so many mitburgers is a pain that flares up every day," conte said. "It's not just numbers. But those we mourn are people, they are stories of families who lose their loved ones."The country had reported nearly 800 deaths in just one day on saturday, a new sad record. In total almost 5000 people died until saturday. In lombardy, which has been particularly hard hit, hospital care has collapsed. In some areas, they don't even know where to put all the dead anymore.
This is one of the reasons why conte has now announced a "further step" that will bring the country to an almost complete standstill. All establishments "that are not crucial and indispensable" for the most necessary good and services must remain closed. Only supermarkets, banks, post office and pharmacies and tobacco stores are still exempt. There are no restrictions on the opening hours of supermarkets, conte stressed. But for days the queues in front of the stores have been getting longer and longer, and many people are afraid that everything will soon be closed down. Work may include the food and transport industries, as well as the waste disposal or energy industries. The textile industry, for example, is only allowed to work if it is for work clothing.
Since 10. Marz, the country is already subject to curfews, and many offices have switched to home offices. But even in lombardy some still went to work. "Our sacrifice to stay home is minimal when compared to the sacrifices made by other mitburgers in hospitals," conte said. The economic damage to the highly indebted country is already immeasurable.
Many italians are tired of the crisis, depressed. "We are giving up our favorite habits, we are doing it because we love italy," said conte. But together we will make it – a slogan that many are beginning to disbelieve. In the meantime, it is strictly forbidden to go into the green or to go for a walk. Jogging is completely forbidden in lombardy – the only way that many people still get a balance. But because the number of infected people continues to rise and the curve does not flatten out noticeably, regional politicians from the north in particular had called for "the whole country to be protected". In the most severely affected province of bergamo, military trucks have to transport coffins to other towns for burning.
Italy guesses why so many people die in her country. Not even china had reported such high growth rates per day. As of sunday, there were officially 59.138 people infected and 5476 died. In germany there were more than 24.100 infections and about 90 deaths.
There could be several reasons for the high death rate in italy. Experts assume that the number of infected people is much higher than indicated, many mild or asymptomatic cases are not recorded. Many people are not tested.
Italy has one of the oldest populations in the world. Most of the dead were elderly people. However, the population in germany is not much younger either. But many grobeltern live in italy with their children and grandchildren in the house or are involved in daily life. So infections are easier. The overburdened hospitals in lombardy were also considered a problem, because infections could spread quickly there.
Civil defense chief borrelli emphasized that in the case of the recorded deceased, the cause of death was not conclusively clarified: that is, whether the people died only from covid-19 or whether the cause was another disease. The majority of the victims are over 70 years old, many of them suffering from one or more diseases, such as diabetes, cancer or respiratory problems.