Friday, Adriano Trevisan, a 78-year-old retired Italian mason, was the first European to die after contracting the Chinese coronavirus. On Saturday, the death of a second Italian patient was announced by the authorities. These deaths raise new questions about the spread of the virus on the continent, but also worldwide. Europe 1 takes stock.
Five cases detected in Italy, public spaces closed
So far, coronavirus cases in Italy have all been identified in the north of the country. Adriano Trevisan, hospitalized for ten days, was one of the two cases detected in Veneto. Five doctors and ten other people have also been identified as carriers of the new coronavirus in Lombardy. In total, around thirty cases have been detected in Italy, the European country most affected by the epidemic.
The authorities have decided to close public spaces and cancel sporting and religious events in eleven cities. The first focus of infection was identified as the city of Codogno in Lombardy. In this area, about 60 km southeast of Milan, more than 50,000 people have been placed in semi-containment at home. The head of health in Lombardy, Julio Galera, invited the population of the cities of Codogno, Castiglione D’adda and Casapusterlengo to “stay at home as a precaution”. The head of the Italian government, Giuseppe Conte, said that “everything [était] under control “, stressing that the government maintained a” very high level of protection “.
China epidemic slows, WHO sounds alarm bells
At the same time, in China, the daily number of new cases of contamination is down with 397 cases announced on Saturday by the National Health Commission, against nearly 900 on Friday. There are 109 new deaths from the virus, bringing the national total to 2,345 deaths. There had been 118 the day before. The number of contaminations across mainland China, excluding Hong Kong and Macao, is more than 76,000.
The head of the World Health Organization, the Ethiopian Tedros Adhanom, sounded the alarm on Friday in Geneva: “As we speak, we are still in a phase where it is possible to contain the epidemic “. But the “window of fire is narrowing,” he warned, lamenting the lack of international financial support. WHO is concerned because some of the new cases are atypical: the people infected have reportedly had no recent ties to China and no contact with other patients.
The foci of the disease continue to swarm: the first cases have been identified in Lebanon, in Israel and we now deplore four deaths in Iran.
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