On March 9, 2020 Italy became the “first country to attempt a nationwide lockdown to stop the spread of the highly infectious coronavirus”, the next day the streets were empty. At this stage 9,172 people had been infected by the virus, 1,598 more than the day before and 463 had died, the majority of whom are overwhelmingly elderly and sick people – the known high-risk group. [1, 2, 3]
Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, announced the “stay at home” order for 60 million people, in an unscheduled news conference on Monday 9th March, he explained that “we are forced to impose sacrifices.” Could the inspiration have come from China‘s draconian lockdown response allegedly “beating” the virus?
Italy’s lockdown response opened up the argument for other European countries to do the same.
The northern region of Lombardy, with a high elderly population and poor air quality, recorded the highest death toll attributed to COVID-19 in Italy. By March 28, 2020, 88% of death certificates showed one or more pre-existing morbidities, add to this the “Hug-a-Chinese” campaign in February 2020 in northern Italy!