Major concerns in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto. There, public life in several cities has been destroyed. Schools, companies and restaurants must remain closed for the time being.
Church services, carnival celebrations and sporting events have also been canceled. Residents are asked to stay at home. Government buildings are closed in Milan.
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People died
The first fatal victim in Italy is the 78-year-old Adriano Trevisan. He was in the hospital of Padua for ten days before his death yesterday.
The other virus victim is a 75-year-old woman. She was weakened by pneumonia. She may have been infected at the hospital’s first aid.
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Infection source
The outbreak began in Codogno, a city southeast of Milan. The first patient here is a 38-year-old man. He fell ill after meeting a man who had returned from China on January 21. Strikingly, this traveler had no symptoms.
The 38-year-old man works in a Unilever factory, near Codogno. More than a hundred of his colleagues are now being quarantined and tested. The man – patient 1 – is in the hospital. His condition is stable.
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The virus has now been formally diagnosed in more than forty people. But they have been in contact with hundreds of others again. As a precaution, all those people – if they have been in contact – must be kept in quarantine.
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‘Stay calm’
The Italian authorities are calling on everyone to remain calm. There is, however, great concern about the various infections, because there is no direct link with the first patient.
Luca Zaia, the president of the Veneto region, compares the corona virus with the normal flu. “You can get it from anyone.”
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