ALL European countries will go to total coronavirus lockdown within 10 days if containment fails, ex-Italian PM warns
ALL European countries could enforce total a coronavirus lockdown like Italy within 10 days, the ex-Italian PM has warned.
The Mediterranean country has been the worst hit by the virus outside China, accounting for more than half of the nearly 20,000 cases in Europe with more than 12,000 confirmed infections.
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The whole country was placed on lockdown on Monday, with all public events banned, cinemas, gyms and pubs closed, funerals and weddings cancelled and sporting matches suspended.
Current prime minister Giuseppe Conte later said that all businesses in the country would closed except for pharmacies and grocers.
But the killer bug now threatens to engulf the continent with up to 70 per cent of citizens at risk, leaders say.
And former Italian PM Matteo Renzi sent an ominous warning on Wednesday that the rest of the continent could soon follow Italy's lead.
He said: “Today, the red zone is Italy,” but warned if containment measures fail, “the red zone will be Europe.”
Denmark has since become the second European country to be placed on lockdown, after a ten-fold spike in cases.
The government will shut all schools and universities and tell all employees with non-critical jobs to work from home for two weeks.
Gatherings of more than 100 people are also banned, meaning most bars and nightclubs will close.
EU SLAMMED
Italy also slammed the EU for being too slow to come to its aid, after the country begged for emergency medical supplies.
Germany and France are among the EU countries to have imposed limits on the export of essential medical kit.
Italian ambassador Maurizio Massari said: “Italy has already asked to activate the European Union mechanism of civil protection for the supply of medical equipment for individual protection.
“But unfortunately not a single EU country responded to the commission’s call.
“Only China responded bilaterally. Certainly this is not a good sign of European solidarity.”
GLOBAL PANDEMIC
It comes as The World Health Organisation (WHO) today declared the outbreak a global pandemic as 126,000 people have been diagnosed with the killer bug across 114 countries.
More than 4,600 people have died - around 3,000 of them in China - after contracting COVID-19 across the globe.
Dramatic footage today showed police vehicles and a team of hazmat-clad civil protection workers patrolling the streets of the Italian town of Desenzano on Lake Garda, which would usually be bustling with tourists and locals.
A message from a loudspeaker says: "Fellow citizens, following the decree please do not leave your house unless absolutely necessary.
"If you go outside then you are risking the health of others and the infrastructure of the health system."
It took less than a month for the number of coronavirus cases to escalate from just dozens to thousands.
At the end of February, all nations in Europe other than Italy reported just a few dozen cases.
France, Germany and Spain have around 2,000 cases each.
Britain, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland each have at least 400 confirmed cases.
Two more patients died from coronavirus in England on Wednesday bringing the UK toll to eight after the number of cases jumped to 460.
Denmark and Belgium have both reported more than 250 cases, while Sweden has more than 350.
GERMANY CONTAGION
Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel said on Wednesday that the coronavirus was likely to infect about two-thirds of the German population.
In her first public appearance to address the epidemic, she said: “Given it's a virus for which there is no immunity and no immunisation, we have to understand that many people will be infected.
"The consensus among experts is that 60 to 70 per cent of the population will be infected."
By 5pm on Wednesday, 1,629 people in Germany tested positive for the disease.
Going by Ms Merkel's worse-case scenario estimates, up to 58million of Germany's citizens could catch it.
The chancellor urged Germans to stay home whenever possible and take precautions to ensure that the health system would be able to withstand the high number of people who could fall seriously ill.
She said: "This is a test for our solidarity, our common sense and care for each other. And I hope we pass the test."
Health Minister Jens Spahn added that 80 per cent of all infected patients would have almost no symptoms, making it harder to stop.
But other German health experts say it is unlikely that two-thirds of Germans will get coronavirus.
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Virologist Alexander Kekulé, a former federal government adviser on disease control, said in the worst case scenario a maximum of 40,000 people in the country would get the virus.
European leaders held a summit by video conference, noting that up to 70 per cent of Europeans - or 500million people - could be infected by Covid-19.
Speaking after the discussion, Bulgaria’s PM Boyko Borissov spoke of his concern by posting on Facebook: “Today at the video conference with my European council colleagues, specialist analyses were quoted that said that coronavirus would affect more than 70 per cent of Europe’s population.
Italy on lockdown
- Italians told to stay home and “limit social contact as much as possible”
- All public events banned, with sporting matches including Serie A games suspended
- Weddings and funerals cancelled, with cinemas, gyms and pubs closed
- Travel only allowed for “urgent, verifiable work situations and emergencies or health reasons”
- Public and private companies encouraged to put their employees on leave
- Mortgage payments suspended, with debt moratoriums offered to small firms and households
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