Doctors urge tougher national action as hospitals struggle to treat coronavirus patients
Doctors in Italy have warned there will be an additional 10,000 Covid-19 deaths in a month in the country unless a national lockdown is imposed.
The government is moving toward placing further restrictions in four more regions considered high risk: Campania, Liguria, Abruzzo and Umbria.
Continue reading...Coronavirus potentially poses a threat to the very existence of places such as Roccafiorita in Sicily
When the mayor of Roccafiorita received a phone call in October informing him that an employee in his office had tested positive for Covid-19, his heart sank.
Set among the forests at the foot of Mount Kalfa, Roccafiorita is the smallest village in southern Italy. The average age of its 187 inhabitants is over 60. If Covid were to spread among the population, the village could disappear.
Continue reading...Apostolic Library, facing 100 threats a month, wants to ensure readers can trust digitised records of its historical treasures
Ancient intellects are now being guarded by artificial intelligence following moves to protect one of the most extraordinary collections of historical manuscripts and documents in the world from cyber-attacks.
The Vatican Apostolic Library, which holds 80,000 documents of immense importance and immeasurable value, including the oldest surviving copy of the Bible and drawings and writings from Michelangelo and Galileo, has partnered with a cyber-security firm to defend its ambitious digitisation project against criminals.
Continue reading...Bill now needs approval from upper house before becoming law
Activists in Italy have hailed a vote in the lower house of parliament to pass a bill that would make violence against LGBT people and disabled people, as well as misogyny, a hate crime.
The bill, which passed successfully despite months of protests from far-right and Catholic groups, now needs approval from the upper house, where it is backed by the ruling coalition parties, before becoming law.
Continue reading...Libertarians and conspiracy theorists join business owners in opposing new restrictions
Fresh lockdowns to stem the spread of coronavirus have sparked sometimes violent protests in several European countries, fuelled both by ideological fury at new government-imposed restrictions and fears of economic hardship.
As the number of infections surge and hospitals and intensive care units fill up, countries including Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Spain have once more introduced tough curbs on movement and gatherings.
Continue reading...New restrictions have begun across Europe, many greeted by protests
The head of the World Health Organization has gone into self-quarantine after someone he had been in contact with tested positive for Covid-19.
With the virus again spreading rapidly across Europe and elsewhere, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who is based in Geneva, made the announcement by Twitter late on Sunday night, but stressed he had no symptoms.
Continue reading...With citizens and health service overstretched, protests are gaining momentum in the Italian city
The four women huddling around their neighbour in an alleyway off Via dei Tribunali, in central Naples, took turns to call an ambulance. “It’s an absolute disaster!” yelled one of them, called Antonietta. “Nobody is responding, we’ve been trying for hours.”
The woman sitting on a chair in the middle of them, with her head bent forward, had a heart problem. Not even taxi drivers were answering the phone. One woman suggested calling the police. “Now do you understand why we’re so angry?” added Antonietta. “Things are so desperate here – Covid is not the only thing that is killing us.”
Continue reading...Demonstrations have continued across Italy as hundreds of people gathered to protest against measures imposed by the government to contain the spread of coronavirus. After four days of protests, supporters of the rightwing group Forza Nuova gathered in Piazza del Popolo where they clashed with riot police. The government has introduced a relief package for businesses affected by the restrictions, which include a 6pm curfew for bars and restaurants and the closure of gyms, swimming pools, cinemas and theatres
Continue reading...WHO tells countries ‘not to give up’ as virus fatigue sets in; street clashes in Barcelona; US daily deaths rise 10% in two weeks
Police in Italy have fired tear gas to disperse angry crowds in the northern cities of Turin and Milan after protests against the latest round of anti-coronavirus restrictions flared into violence.
As the head of the World Health Organization urged countries “not to give up” in their fight to contain the virus, luxury goods shops, including a Gucci fashion shop, were ransacked in the centre of Turin as crowds of youths took to the streets after nightfall, letting off firecrackers and lighting coloured flares.
Continue reading...Virginia Raggi says she was told organised crime groups planned to kill her and her family
The mayor of Rome has said organised crime groups planned to kill her and her family because she was taking them on in parts of the Italian capital where they hold sway.
Virginia Raggi became the Eternal City’s first female mayor when she was elected in 2016 in a breakthrough for her party, the Five Star Movement, which now governs nationally. She is running for re-election next year.
Continue reading...Chancellor says country is on verge of losing control as Europe death toll passes 250k
The German chancellor, Angela Merkel, has said her country is on the verge of losing control of its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, telling colleagues from her Christian Democratic Union party “the situation is threatening” and “every day counts”.
In leaked comments to an internal party meeting, she told those attending of “very, very difficult months ahead” and added that “every day [would] count” in tackling the virus’s spread.
Continue reading...Many firms may not last to see a promised ‘serene Christmas’, as pandemic bites across Europe
From ski resorts in the north to restaurants in the south, many Italians have been making their objections heard to the government’s latest measures to combat escalating coronavirus infections.
The prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, said the restrictions, which include the 6pm closure of bars and restaurants and complete closure of gyms, swimming pools, cinemas, theatres and ski stations, were needed so that people could enjoy a “serene Christmas”.
Continue reading...Different approaches are having notably different outcomes
A second coronavirus wave is sweeping continental Europe, with new infection records broken daily in many countries. There are wide variations, but almost no country has been left untouched – even those that fared well in the first wave.
Across the 31 countries from which the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control collects national data, the average 14-day case incidence rate per 100,000 inhabitants has multiplied from just 13 in mid-July to almost 250 last week.
Continue reading...France, Italy, Austria and Greece report record increases in Covid-19 cases; Melbourne cluster grows. Follow the latest updates live
More than 100 inmates have tested positive for covid-19 at Indonesia’s Kerobokan prison, on the island of Bali.
The Jakarta Post reports today on a growing cluster inside the notorious prison, detected after complaints of symptoms by some inmates prompted mass testing earlier this week.
Here is our full report on the latest from Victoria, Australia, where the country’s largest outbreak and which sparked one of the world’s strictest lockdowns, is being brought under control. From Calla Wahlquist:
Daniel Andrews has delayed an announcement about easing coronavirus restrictions in Melbourne pending the outcome of tests connected to an outbreak in the northern suburbs, prompting criticism from the business community, the state opposition, the federal government and his own former health minister.
In a heated press conference, the Victorian premier said he had “hoped” to be able to announce significant steps about opening up the retail and hospitality industries from the middle of the week.
Related: Daniel Andrews under fire over delayed easing of restrictions after seven new cases reported
Continue reading...Latest updates: Spain declares new national state of emergency; Dr Anthony Fauci tempers expectation of vaccine breakthrough in 2020
The US saw its highest ever number of new coronavirus cases in the past two days, keeping the pandemic a top election issue as Vice president Mike Pence travels the country to campaign despite close aides testing positive.
The US reported 79,852 new infections on Saturday, close to the previous day’s record of 84,244 new cases, as we reported earlier.
The Czech government will almost certainly have to tighten its anti-coronavirus measures again as current curbs have not halted a surge in infections, prime minister Andrej Babis said on Sunday.
Cases are up across Europe, but the Czech Republic has recorded the sharpest rises in infections on the continent in recent weeks, Reuters reports.
Angry over a newly imposed 11pm to 5am regional curfew, demonstrators in the southern Italian city of Naples threw stones and bottles at police on Friday evening. The authorities responded with teargas. The stricter measures are an attempt to curb the spread of coronavirus, which has killed more than 37,000 people in Italy since the start of the pandemic
Continue reading...The World Health Organization has warned of a ‘critical juncture’ of the pandemic, particularly in the northern hemisphere, and urged heads of state to take action to reduce the spread of Covid-19.
European leaders have increased restrictions as cases have continued rising. Wales has started a two-week ‘firebreak’ lockdown and Portugal’s parliament has passed a law making the wearing of masks mandatory in many outdoor situations
Continue reading...Foreign minister makes formal complaint about ‘interference’ on the highest Alpine peak
Italy has reignited a dispute with France over Mont Blanc border rights after French authorities imposed measures that encroached on Italian territory.
Luigi Di Maio, the Italian foreign minister, who in the past has stoked tensions with France over other issues, said he had written a formal letter of complaint to the French government via the Italian embassy in Paris expressing his “strong disappointment” over the “interference” on the highest Alpine peak.
Continue reading...Parts of Spain and Italy facing restrictions as Ireland set to become first EU country to reimpose national lockdown
Regions in Spain and Italy have returned to lockdown and Ireland will do so from Wednesday as countries across Europe continue to report new Covid infection highs and governments struggle to contain the second wave of the pandemic.
The northern Spanish Navarre region, where the number of cases per 100,000 people is 945 against 312 nationally, announced a two-week lockdown from Thursday that will be stricter than measures imposed on Madrid by central government.
Continue reading...China’s economy grows 4.9%; ‘Situation is critical’ in Italy, says PM; restrictions ease in Australian city of Melbourne
Dr Anthony Fauci, the top US infectious diseases expert and sidelined White House coronavirus taskforce member, has said he was “absolutely not” surprised that Donald Trump contracted coronavirus, as Joe Biden warned that the coronavirus outbreak was worsening.
In an interview with 60 Minutes aired on Sunday, shortly before Trump held a rally in Nevada, Fauci said: “I was worried that he was going to get sick when I saw him in a completely precarious situation of crowded, no separation between people, and almost nobody wearing a mask.”
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