- Italy has quarantined a dozen towns in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto.
- This followed a confirmed 79 cases of coronavirus in Italy, along with two deaths.
- Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced the lockdown on Saturday night, which bans anyone from leaving or entering the affected area, which contains some 50,000 people.
Italy is battening down the hatches against coronavirus.
On Saturday the number of reported cases of the virus in Italy rose to 79, and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced an emergency plan to quarantine towns in the worst affected areas late on Saturday evening, the BBC reports.
Per the BBC, Conte announced lockdowns on a dozen towns in the northern provinces of Lombardy and Veneto, asking roughly 50,000 Italian citizens to stay home. Travel to and from the outbreak areas without special permission is now banned, and police and armed forces will have authority to enforce the lockdown.
www.insider.com/italy-quarantines-cities-over-coronavirus-2020-2
American in Milan – Sinking panic feeling
Until now I’ve been following the virus. At first I thought nothing of it, a SARS like epidemic or not really. Then I started to panic watching videos and Tweets coming out of China. Recently, calmed myself by keeping up with spammer and came to conclusions it is a communist culling and that the real impact will be economically and socially. Now, I’m starting to get that low panic feeling again.
I keep thinking about those threads and news feeds of pet owners needing to kill their pets or they will kill them, and the video that was deleted about the Chinese killing their dogs with sticks.
You can’t maintain pets while being locked up….Never thought seriously about it until now. That will be my que to get the fuck out of the city.
We are the first western city to start implementing quarantines and closings because of the virus.
Milan will be a litmus test for everyone else.
www.open.online/2020/02/23/urgente-sala-scuole-chiuse-a-milano-e-provincia-da-domani/
180 Israeli Students Quarantined In Israel After Coronavirus Exposure
180 Israeli students are now in isolation after being exposed to South Korean tourists who tested positive for the coronavirus, according to a report done by Channel 12.
The South Koreans returned home on February 15 from an eight-day visit to Israel. While it’s unknown whether the group contracted the virus before or after their return to South Korea, the Health Ministry is operating on the assumption that they arrived in Israel as carriers of the virus, which has a 14-day incubation period during which those infected are asymptomatic.
www.jpost.com/Israel-News/180-Israeli-students-quarantined-after-coronavirus-exposure-618455
South Korea raises virus alert level to ‘highest’ as cases surge, Coronavirus Explodes in Italy, Threatening Europe. Can It Be Contained?
SEOUL – South Korea is raising its alert on the new coronavirus to the “highest level,” President Moon Jae-in said Sunday, as the country reported 123 new infections.
South Korea has seen a rapid surge in the number of coronavirus cases in recent days after a cluster of infections emerged from a religious sect in the southern city of Daegu last week.
The national toll of 556 cases is now the highest outside China, apart from the Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan.
“The COVID-19 incident faces a grave turning point. The next few days will be crucial,” Moon said following a government meeting on the virus.
“The government will raise the alert level to the highest level of ‘grave’ according to experts’ recommendations and drastically strengthen our response system,” Moon said. He also urged officials not to hesitate from taking “unprecedented powerful measures” to contain the outbreak.
On Sunday, South Korea reported 123 new cases and two deaths, taking the countrywide toll to four.
One of the victims was a patient being treated for mental health issues at a hospital in Cheongdo, a southern city linked to the religious sect where around 100 new cases were reported.
www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2020/02/23/asia-pacific/south-korea-virus-alert-level/
SANITARY EMERGENCY
Healthcare facilities have not yet identified the patient – or patients – zero from which the spread of the virus started in Italy. The emergency commissioner Angelo Borrelli said it, confirming that there is still no precise indication. “It is difficult to formulate predictions for what diffusion can be – he added – the only concrete and valid measure to be adopted is therefore to close the territories”. At the moment the only areas subject to isolation as they are considered outbreaks of the virus are the ten municipalities of the Lodi area identified in the ordinance of the minister of health and the governor of Lombardy and the territory of the municipality of Vo ‘Euganeo, confirmed the commissioner for the Angelo Borrelli emergency reiterating that for now no measures will be taken for other areas. “It is an evaluation that we will make with the technical and scientific committee and the regions. For the moment the areas are those indicated” he added.
MIGRANTS
The Interior Ministry decided that “Ocean Viking will land in the port of Pozzallo. In order to ensure adequate prevention measures, migrants will be kept in quarantine in the hotspot of the Sicilian town. For the same precautionary purposes, the ship’s personnel will remain isolated at on board for as long as necessary. The competent authorities will carry out the assessments and health surveillance deemed indispensabl
CORONAVIRUS UPDATE: Italy Towns Wake To Quarantine, Queue For Food In Coronavirus Outbreak.
Coronavirus updates: 10 Italian communities on lockdown as death toll rises in China.
Concern over coronavirus spread grows with cases jumping in South Korea, Italy and Iran.
Coronavirus cases in South Korea up to 433 overnight.
Coronavirus: South Korea declares highest alert as infections surge.
Iran Says 43 Infected With Coronavirus, Eight Dead: Official.
Trump Was Furious That Passengers With Coronavirus Were Brought Back to U.S. “One official said Mr. Trump views shutting the borders to infected people as critical to keeping the country safe.”
France has seen a 30% to 40% fall in tourists following the coronavirus outbreak: Finance minister.
The coronavirus will have a ‘significant’ impact on our economy: Australian treasurer.
Economic impact of coronavirus will be clearer in ‘three or four weeks,’ Mnuchin says.
h/t GR