Spike In COVID-19 Cases In Italy Passes South Korea

Illustrated masker (Photo by Nauris Dragon / Unsplash)

JAKARTA - The Italian government is taking precautionary measures, by closing a number of its areas in connection with the spread of the corona virus or COVID-19 which is increasingly widespread. Even the number of victims infected with the corona virus in this country has reached 7,375 people.

This number has not been added to the death toll which reached 366 people. The death toll and infected patients have even surpassed the number of victims in South Korea.

In comparison, the number of cases of the new corona virus that the South Korean government has confirmed has reached 7,134 patients with 51 deaths. The drastic increase in the number of cases and the death toll has forced the Italian government to quarantine 16 million of its citizens in 14 provinces.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also announced the closure of schools, gymnasiums, museums, nightclubs and other venues across the country.

"We want to ensure the health of our citizens. We understand that these steps require sacrifices, sometimes small and sometimes very large," Prime Minister Conte said when he announced the steps, quoted by the BBC.

The areas under lockdown include Milan - Italy's financial center and main city in Lombardy, and Venice which is a major city in the Veneto region. This extraordinary step will take effect from Sunday 8 March to 3 April.

With the soaring cases of COVID-19 in Italy, the country has become the first country to have the highest corona cases outside China. This quarantine measure is similar to what the Chinese government did when it quarantined Hubei Province, including the city of Wuhan.

The Director General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, supports Italy's quarantine measures. This can be done to prevent the spread of the virus.

Governments can & should rapidly put in place the range of measures needed to reduce # COVID19 transmission & public, social & economic impacts. @WHO advises different approaches for treating people & outbreak responses depending on local circumstances 👉https: //t.co/B5Pcmwj7w0

- Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) March 8, 2020

Positive Corona

A number of Italian officials and politicians have also been reported to have been infected with the coronavirus. Some of them are the Leader of the Democratic Party, Nicola Zingaretti and the Italian Minister of Industry, Stefano Patuanelli who must be quarantined as a patient with the COVID-19 virus.

“The doctor told me that I was positive for COVID-19. I am fine but I will have to stay home for the next few days. From here I will continue to follow the existing rules to do, "said Zingaretti through his official Twitter account.

I medici mi hanno detto che sono positivo al Covid19. Sto bene ma dovrò rimanere a casa per i prossimi giorni. Da qui continuerò a seguire il lavoro che c'è da fare. Coraggio a tutti ea presto!

- Nicola Zingaretti (@nzingaretti) March 7, 2020

Zingaretti's infection of the corona virus raises concerns. He is governor of Lazio's central region which includes the capital city of Rome, which has frequent contact with ministers, regional administrators and other members of the Democratic Party.

It was also reported that Pope Francis was sick and had to hold a blessing ceremony via video. Vatican museums are also closed at this time, including the Sistine Chapel, which will obviously be a major blow to the Italian tourism industry.