Italy has on March 20 drafted in soldiers to help enforce the lockdown in Italy as officials announced 627 new deaths, the largest single-day death toll anywhere in the world since the coronavirus outbreak began.
The hard-hit unfolded in the north of the country, particularly the Lombardy region where infections first exploded last month, as hospitals struggle to treat thousands of cases.
Chinese medical experts helping Italy deal with the crisis have said the restrictions imposed in Lombardy are “not strict enough.”
The president of the Lombardy region, Attilio Fontana on March 20 told newsmen that the government has agreed that the military can be used to help enforce the lockdown.
He stated that;
The request to use the army has been accepted… and 114 soldiers will be on the ground throughout Lombardy… it is still too little, but it is positive. Unfortunately we are not seeing a change of trend in the numbers, which are rising.
The soldiers had until now been deployed in the region to ensure general security in the streets.
Italy’s civil protection agency said more than 4,000 people have now died from the disease and nearly 6,000 new infections were confirmed in the past day, bringing the total to more than 47,000 cases.
Daniela Confalonieri, an Italian nurse in Milan, said the situation was so dire that the dead were no longer being counted.
Confalonieri told Reuters that;
We’re working in a state of very high stress and tension. Unfortunately we can’t contain the situation in Lombardy, there’s a high level of contagion and we’re not even counting the dead any more.
Look at the news that’s coming out of Italy and take note of what the situation really is like. It’s unimaginable.
Dr. Stefano Magnone, a doctor in Bergamo, another Lombardy city, told CNN it had been hit so hard by the coronavirus that it is now sending patients who need intensive care to other parts of the country.
Dr. Magnone stated that Bergamo is sending ICU patients to other regions because they ran out of space.
As of March 21, there are over 53,000 cases and over 4,800 death cases in Italy.
