Category Archives: Italy

Coronavirus live news: South America is now pandemic’s epicentre, says WHO

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Madrid and Barcelona to ease lockdown as Spain’s death toll stays under 100 again; 660,000 people forced to flee homes during crisis despite UN global ceasefire call

Peru has extended its state of emergency until the end of June with only a very partial lifting of its lockdown as infections continue to climb despite more than two months of confinement.

Peru is the second-worst affected Latin American country, with more than 111,000 cases and a death toll of 3,148, according to official figures.

It’s not just an extension ... there is a strategy to combat the virus. This disease will not beaten in a short time. It’s not a 100m sprint, it’s a marathon.

Over the course of the last 60 days we have made great efforts but we have to make another qualitative jump in the health sector.

France regrets a British decision to impose a quarantine on people arriving from mainland Europe and stands ready to impose reciprocal measures, the Agence France-Presse news agency has quoted the country’s interior ministry as saying.

The UK’s home secretary Priti Patel announced earlier on Friday that travellers arriving in the UK from 8 June will have to tell the authorities where they will be staying and face spot checks to ensure they quarantine themselves for 14 days.

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Puglia crimewave points to emergence of ‘fifth’ Italian mafia

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Previously dismissed mob is characterised by ‘primitive’ forms of brutality, say investigators

On 1 April, just as Italy was at the peak of its coronavirus crisis, a man in a protective face mask approached a residential home for vulnerable old people in Foggia in the southern region of Puglia. He was not coming to help residents, however, but rather to blow the home’s doors off with an explosive device.

The incident, in which fortunately no one was injured, came as no surprise to the care home’s owner, Luca Vigilante. He had only recently completed repairs following a bomb attack on the premises in January.

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Italian cities reopen after two months of coronavirus lockdowns – video

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Italy has started easing coronavirus lockdown restrictions and some shops, restaurants and museums have reopened for the first time in two months. Physical distancing remains but people in Rome were able to enjoy a drink or visit mass. In Venice, stores and restaurants reopened, though without the usual crowds of tourists around

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‘I can taste the flavour much more’: Italians rediscover eating out

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After two months of coronavirus lockdown, Italy takes cautious steps towards normality

For some, being able to frequent Italy’s bars and restaurants on Monday after more than two months of lockdown was akin to ending a strict dietary regime.

“I can taste the fullness of the flavour much more,” said Sandro Urbani as he drank a glass of white Sangiovanni wine outside Caffè Barrique in the Umbrian town of Orvieto. “It’s as if I’ve been on a diet over the past few months and all of a sudden I can eat a slice of salami.”

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How will we ever make people feel at home again, ask Italy’s fearful trattorias

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Owners say plexiglass panels and social distancing mean they will struggle to survive in a post-lockdown age

Armando al Pantheon, a lively, family-run trattoria in the heart of Rome, counts the architect Renzo Piano among its illustrious customers. And there is no way that owner and chef Claudio Gargioli, is going to offend his sensibilities – and those of other regulars – with plexiglass.

His father, who opened the restaurant a stone’s throw away from the majestic Pantheon in 1961, would turn in his grave at such a notion, he said. “It could work as a barrier at the till, but on the table it’s not only ugly, but an insult,” Gargioli told the Observer.

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Coronavirus in Europe: states take small steps towards normality

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Restaurants reopen in parts of Germany, while Italy relaxes travel restrictions

Europe took a step towards post-virus normality on Friday when restaurants in Germany and Austria reopened for the first time in two months, and other countries loosened travel restrictions and threw open borders.

Berlin’s restaurants, cafes and snack kiosks were allowed to serve customers again, so long as they obeyed social distancing. People from two separate households could share a table, but had to keep a distance of 1.5m from each other.

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Lockdown easing: have other leaders fared better than Boris Johnson?

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Guardian writers report on how various European countries have managed the process

Boris Johnson has been heavily criticised for failing to show Britain a clear route out of lockdown. Easing a nation out of two months of confinement is a complicated business, and some degree of confusion is almost inevitable. Here, Guardian correspondents look at how other European leaders have managed the process.

Spain’s lockdown exit strategy – known formally as the Plan for the Transition Towards the New Normality – was outlined by the prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, during a televised press conference on the evening of 28 April. Sánchez said the country’s four-phase de-escalation initiative would be “gradual and asymmetric”, adding that the first stage – dubbed phase 0 – would come into effect on 4 May.

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Calls for inquiry as UK reports highest Covid-19 death toll in Europe

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Government’s handling of pandemic under scrutiny as UK becomes worst-hit European country

Britain has the worst coronavirus death toll in Europe, official figures showed on Tuesday, prompting calls for an inquiry into the handling of the pandemic.

The government’s tally of fatalities across the UK reached 29,427 for those who tested positive for coronavirus, exceeding the 29,029 recorded in Italy – until now Europe’s worst-hit country. Italy’s total does not include suspected cases.

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Italians dance and clap as toughest coronavirus lockdown measures lifted – video

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Italians were allowed out as the toughest quarantine measures were lifted throughout the country after almost two months on 4 May.

Around 4 million people returned to work as the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, appealed to the public in a Facebook post on Sunday night to 'act responsibly'.

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Spain and Italy ease Covid-19 lockdown but Russia hits daily high

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Two of Europe’s worst affected countries begin careful process of opening up societies again

Spain and Italy, two of the European countries hardest hit by coronavirus, are beginning to emerge from lengthy and strict lockdowns as Russia and Afghanistan reported their biggest one-day rises in new infections.

In Spain, where 217,466 cases of Covid-19 and 25,264 deaths have been confirmed, adults were allowed back on to the street to exercise for the first time in seven weeks this weekend.

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France announces ‘progressive and controlled’ lockdown exit plan

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Spain also plans ‘transition to normality’ despite rise in German Covid-19 infection rate after relaxation of restrictions

France and Spain have announced detailed roadmaps for gradual, phased exits from their strict coronavirus lockdowns, with restrictions to be loosened progressively and varying from region to region.

The French prime minister, Édouard Philippe, told parliament the decision to confine the population to their homes six weeks ago had saved 62,000 lives but it was now time to start lifting the lockdown to avoid economic collapse.

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Completion of new Genoa bridge seen as symbol of hope in Italy

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Opening hailed but offers little comfort to families of Morandi bridge collapse victims

On the 14th day of each month, the relatives of some of those who died in the collapse of Genoa’s Morandi bridge tie flowers to railings close to the site of the disaster.

“We live in different places and so haven’t always managed to get there every month,” said Egle Possetti, whose sister, brother-in-law, niece and nephew were among the 43 killed on 14 August 2018. “But there’s a woman in Genoa who brings flowers on behalf of all of us.”

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Coronavirus has revealed the EU’s fatal flaw: the lack of solidarity | Shahin Vallée

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There has been little political will to pool taxes, borrowing and spending to support states worst hit. But it is the only way out

The European summit last week was hailed as a moment of truth. In a recent interview, France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, laid out how European leaders had a rendezvous with history and needed to come together, and show that Europe under duress was able to respond with a common voice and with common means to the Covid-19 crisis. By all measures, this rendezvous with history was missed. European leaders in effect agreed to keep calm and carry on.

They endorsed a roadmap to exit lockdown after each country had in fact already decided and announced their own uncoordinated exit plans. In some countries, such as Germany, deconfinement measures are not a prerogative of the federal government and coordinating between states is challenging enough, let alone coordinating with other countries.

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Moscow’s motives questioned over coronavirus aid shipment to Italy

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‘From Russia with love’ package including doctors and PPE criticised as propaganda to exploit cracks in EU

A Russian aid shipment sent to Italy in late March as Rome struggled to contain the coronavirus outbreak has raised questions about the Kremlin’s motives, amid cracks in EU solidarity.

Russia, which has cultivated good relations with Italy in recent years, was one of the first countries to come to the rescue during the early stages of Italy’s outbreak. It dispatched 122 military doctors, personal protective equipment (PPE), ventilators and mobile disinfection machines on cargo planes from Moscow.

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Pompeii ruins show that the Romans invented recycling

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Excavations reveal that rubbish left outside the city walls wasn’t just dumped. It was being collected, sorted and resold

They were expert engineers, way ahead of the curve on underfloor heating, aqueducts and the use of concrete as a building material. Now it turns out that the Romans were also masters at recycling their rubbish.

Researchers at Pompeii, the city buried under a thick carpet of volcanic ash when Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD, have found that huge mounds of refuse apparently dumped outside the city walls were in fact “staging grounds for cycles of use and reuse”.

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Italy uses snow cannon to disinfect alpine villages – video

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Snow cannon spraying disinfectant are being deployed in villages around  the ski slopes of the Italian Alps by sanitation workers, as a novel solution to fight the spread of coronavirus. In Val Gardena, firefighters used their hoses to fill a giant tank with diluted hydrogen peroxide.

As the number of new coronavirus infections has begun to decline in Italy, the country is preparing for the second phase of the lockdown, when restrictive measures will be eased and people will, in stages, begin to return to normal activities. 

Italy has the highest death toll in Europe from coronavirus, with almost 190,000 people infected and more than 25,000 fatalities.

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How do teenagers live in lockdown? – photo essay

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Jean-Marc Caimi and Valentina Piccinni investigated how Italian teenagers were coping with the coronavirus lockdown, working with them to take pictures using video chat apps

Some can’t wait to go out again, others don’t really want to, happy to stay home connected to the outside world only through their computer. Some are worried about the virus and others, instead, are more concerned about the climate crisis.

To give an answer to this important question, we adopted the same means teenagers use to study and communicate within their community. Zoom, Skype, WhatsApp … these video chats were our eyes to take the pictures, remotely.

Teens (and their parents) allowed us to take snapshots using the camera of their computers, tablets or mobile phones, at home, in their bedroom or where they are spending the quarantine, while they study, read, chat, play music, watch TV or exercise.

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Coronavirus delivers a ‘moment of truth’ on the meaning of the EU

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The issue of recovery funds shapes up as an acid test of commitment to the union

The EU’s anxious debate over the bloc’s economic response to the coronavirus pandemic is at heart about the nature and competing visions of the union.

It is a perennial question found lurking in the background of all EU negotiations over long-term budgets, not least the most recent inconclusive and toxic talks in which north was pitted against south.

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Italy: dozens of mafia bosses could be released due to coronavirus

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Critics fear reported move would mean ‘the mafia virus on the streets alongside Covid-19’

Dozens of mafia bosses could be released from prisons across Italy due to the risk of Covid-19 infection, after Italian judges set free at least three ageing mobsters, placing them under house arrest.

News magazine L’Espresso on Wednesday reported that a judge in Milan had ordered the release of one of the most influential bosses of Cosa Nostra, Francesco Bonura, 78, who was serving a 23-year sentence. The terms of Bonura’s release to house arrest allow his movement for health-related appointments.

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Milan seeks to prevent post-crisis return of traffic pollution

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Coronavirus-hit Lombardy city will turn 35km of streets over to cyclists and pedestrians

Milan is to introduce one of Europe’s most ambitious schemes reallocating street space from cars to cycling and walking, in response to the coronavirus crisis.

The northern Italian city and surrounding Lombardy region are among Europe’s most polluted, and have also been especially hard hit by the Covid-19 outbreak.

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