COVID-19 PANDEMIC: Day 117: AT EUROPE EPICENTER- Italy’s coronavirus deaths slow
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COVID-19 PANDEMIC:
NOW EPICENTER: EUROPE
MILAN, Italy
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ROME (REUTERS) – The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy rose by 602 on Monday (March 23), the smallest increase for four days, while the number of new cases also slowed, raising hope that the most aggressive phase of the epidemic may be passing.
The Civil Protection Agency said the number of fatalities from the month-old contagion stood at 6,077, while confirmed cases totalled 63,927, an increase of 4,789 over the past 24 hours – the smallest rise for five days.
“Today is perhaps the first positive day we have had in this hard, very tough month,” said Giulio Gallera, the top health official in the northern region of Lombardy, which has been hardest hit by the outbreak.
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“It is not the time to sing victory, but we are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel,” he told reporters.
However, there was also a significant fall in the number of tests carried out, and the head of Italy’s national health institute, Silvio Brusaferro, said it was too soon to say if the recent decline in daily deaths and new cases would continue.
Unions in Lombardy earlier announced they would strike on Wednesday to protect the health of their workers, saying a government decree temporarily shutting businesses due to the coronavirus emergency contained too many loopholes.
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Italy has suffered the world’s deadliest outbreak of the respiratory pandemic, with 62% of the fatalities registered in Lombardy, the country’s most populous and wealthy region.
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A government decree signed on Sunday said all but “essential” businesses must close until April 3 and set out a long list of exceptions deemed vital to keep Italy’s supply chain running.
The Lombardy branches of the three main metalworkers unions, FIOM, FIM and UILM, said the list “has been excessively extended, covering areas of dubious importance” and allowing firms “excessive discretion” to apply for exemptions.
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SOUTHERN WORRIES
In a joint statement, they trio of unions said workers in all factories not directly linked to the beleaguered health sector would down tools. Lombardy’s chemical workers said they would also stay home on March 25.
“The decree allows a lot of firms to remain open, many without the proper guarantees and safety norms, creating conditions not agreed with us and fanning a lot of concern among workers,” said Paolo Pirani, national head of the UILTEC chemical and textile workers’ union.
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Bank workers threatened a nationwide walkout, saying they were forced to work in unsafe conditions without masks, gloves and sufficient amounts of antiseptic gels. Several banks have already temporarily closed branches to sanitize them.
Many of the country’s most prominent companies have already suspended their output in Italy, including eyeware manufacturer Luxottica, luxury carmaker Ferrari and tyre maker Pirelli.
The Italian-American automaker Fiat Chrysler told employees on Monday it would halt production in all European and North American plants and help with the production of masks during the coronavirus emergency, a union representative said.
The head of employers’ lobby Confindustria warned about the economic impact of the factory closures.
By shutting 70% of the country’s output, Italy will lose 100 billion euros a month, he told Sky Italia in a television interview.
Italy’s northern regions have borne the overwhelming brunt of the crisis but there is concern the virus could spread into the poorer south where health systems are less well-equipped.
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The first death was recorded on Monday in the southern region of Basilicata, meaning all Italy’s 20 regions have now registered fatalities.
Sebastiano Musumeci, the regional president of Sicily, protested on Monday that many non-residents were arriving on the southern island on car ferries.
“The national government must intervene because we Sicilians are not willing to be slaughtered like cattle,” he said.
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MADRID- Spanish soldiers find bodies in retirement homes
Spanish soldiers deployed to help fight the new coronavirus outbreak have found elderly patients abandoned, and sometimes dead, at retirement homes, as an ice rink inside a Madrid shopping mall was turned into a temporary morgue to cope with a surge in cases.
The army has been charged with helping to disinfect retirement homes in Spain, one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic. Dozens of deaths from COVID-19 have been recorded at facilities across the country.
“We are going to be strict and inflexible when dealing with the way old people are treated in these residences,” Defence Minister Margarita Robles said in an interview with private television channel Telecinco.
“The army, during certain visits, found some old people completely abandoned, sometimes even dead in their beds,” she added.
An investigation has been launched, the general prosecutor announced.
The coronavirus death toll in Spain surged to 2,182 on Monday after 462 people died within 24 hours, according to health ministry figures.
Under coronavirus protocols, health workers have been instructed to leave bodies in place in suspected COVID-19 deaths until the arrival of a doctor. But given the upsurge in deaths the delay can be lengthy. / AFP News
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Coronavirus: Video shows patients lying on Madrid hospital floor as deaths soar
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Spanish Authorities Disinfect Public Spaces as Nation Battles Coronavirus Pandemic
READ MORE: https://ph.yahoo.com/news/spanish-soldiers-bodies-retirement-homes-033930351.html
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LONDON, U.K.- British PM Johnson orders Britons to stay at home as part of lockdown measures to combat coronavirus spread
UK Prime Minister
✔@10DowningStreet
PM @BorisJohnson gives an important update on #coronavirus #StayHomeSaveLives
“I urge you at this moment of national emergency to stay at home, protect our NHS and save lives,” he said. The restrictions will be “under constant review”, he added.
“We will look again in three weeks, and relax them if the evidence shows we are able to,” he said. “But at present there are just no easy options. The way ahead is hard, and it is still true that many lives will sadly be lost.”
Deaths from the virus in Britain jumped by 54 to 335 on Monday as the government said the military would help ship millions of items of personal protective equipment (PPE) including masks to healthcare workers who have complained of shortages.
‘WAR-FOOTING’
Britain recorded its first death in the outbreak on March 5 but has been criticised for its light-touch approach to containing the spread compared to more stringent measures elsewhere.
Latest figures show Britain now has 6,650 confirmed cases of Covid-19, with warnings the virus is taking hold quicker than in Italy at the same point.
Italy has suffered the most coronavirus deaths worldwide, with 6,077 fatalities out of 63,927 declared infections.
Johnson had previously resisted mounting public concern that hand-washing was not enough to reduce the impact of Covid-19.
As the numbers of cases and deaths climbed, employees were laid off, and sporting and other events cancelled, he moved to try to limit the social and economic fall-out.
The Bank of England slashed interest rates to record lows, while finance minister Rishi Sunak unveiled a series of multi-billion-pound packages to help those affected.
Notably, the government has stepped in to back up employee wages up to 80 per cent, give tax holidays to businesses and boost welfare payments. But Johnson was forced to go further, and put the government on what he said was a war footing, after dire warnings from scientists that its social distancing strategy was not working.
READ MORE: https://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/british-pm-johnson-orders-britons-to-stay-at-home-as-part-of-lockdown-measures-to
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