- Italian authorities announced on Sunday that 132 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the north of the country.
- Eleven cities have been confined since Saturday. Shops, schools are closed for two weeks.
- France, Switzerland and Austria, neighboring countries, are monitoring the development of the health situation on the peninsula without panicking.
Contaminations that keep climbing, dead cities, confined residents, canceled sporting and cultural events ... Since this weekend, Italy has been facing an unprecedented acceleration of the coronavirus epidemic. Two deaths were confirmed during the night of Friday to last Saturday and containment measures were intensified throughout the weekend. Why is this situation so worrying, in France and around the world?
Rapidly increasing cases
In a few days, the counter of contaminations in Italy panicked. This Sunday, the Italian authorities announced that the country counted 132 cases of contaminations with the coronavirus, of which at least 89 identified in Lombardy. The others were identified in Veneto, the neighboring region. These cases of Italian patients are added to the three cases, including two Chinese tourists, treated in Rome. The main focus is in Codogno, 60 km south of Milan. The other area is the village of Vo 'Euganeo where the first death of an Italian, a 78-year-old mason named Adriano Trevisan, was announced on Friday evening. The second death of a woman of the same age occurred near Codogno overnight. The focus is therefore concentrated in the north of the country.
"Seeing that the affected regions, Lombardy and Vinitie, I wondered if it was not an artifact, wonders Anne-Marie Moulin, doctor specializing in tropical medicine, associate of philosophy and researcher at the National Research Center scientist (CNRS). Because health surveillance is certainly better in the Milan region, which is highly developed economically and health-wise, than in the South. "
A question about the origin of the contamination
As an additional concern, it is not known how the two deceased people contracted the virus. The president of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, interviewed on Rainews24, explained that "the big question" was the source of the contamination because the patients had had "no contact" with Chinese or people returning from China.
According to the Lombardy authorities, the focus of this region originates from Mattia, a 38-year-old researcher, "patient 1", hospitalized in intensive care since Wednesday in Codogno and transferred Saturday to Pavia. His illness is a mystery because it is excluded that he was infected by one of his friends who returned from China in January. "Based on the tests, [the friend] did not develop the antibodies," said Deputy Minister of Health Pierpaolo Sileri. Sunday, Attilio Fontana, president of Lombardy all the same evoked "two hypotheses" being explored to understand who may have infected Mattia. Without further details.
"The information we receive is incomplete," regrets Anne-Marie Mouli. The health authorities would be better to explain more: for how long these patients have had symptoms, if they suffer from other pathologies ... We learn a lot about the mechanisms of panic, but much less about the medical aspect of the pathology . It would also be interesting to compare mortality, the profile of patients infected with this coronavirus and those affected by the flu. The numbers don't mean much…. I would like to know if, as in the plagues of yesteryear, this virus kills young, healthy people. "
Drastic measures
Above all, Italy is the first country in Europe to quarantine cities. Since Saturday, eleven cities (ten in Lombardy and one close to Padua, in Veneto) have been gradually closed to fight against the coronavirus. In Codogno and in nine neighboring localities, all public places (bars, town halls, libraries, schools), except pharmacies, have been closed since Friday evening, for two weeks. In all, 52,000 inhabitants of these cities in the north of Italy are confined: neither the entry nor the exit of these zones are authorized, except derogation.
Saturday evening, the government adopted a very strict decree-law which puts these communities in solitary confinement, under penalty of prison. Closure of businesses and schools, cancellation of cultural and sporting events, postponement of soccer games, this Sunday, the streets were deserted, with the exception of a few supermarkets that were taken over.
Justified? "The precautionary principle has greatly increased in recent years," analyzes the researcher at the CNRS. But this evolution of public health measures does not necessarily mean more danger, but takes a more systematic approach. Which causes greater anxiety. "
A turning point for the World Health Organization
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, sounded the alarm on Friday in Geneva. "We are still in a phase where it is possible to contain the epidemic," he said, but the "shooting window is narrowing". It is the spread of this epidemic outside of China that heightens the concerns of the international community.
In addition to Italy, two other countries are drawing WHO attention: Iran, where the new virus has killed eight people, the second country where the epidemic has killed the most people outside of China. . And South Korea where the number of sick in the country reaches 602 cases on Sunday.
A country very close to France
It is not only the WHO that is worried and obviously, these numerous cases in this country neighboring France, are likely to reinforce fears in France. "Italy seems closer than Seoul, but in airports, you can meet people who come from China", nuance Anne-Marie Moulin.
The Minister of Health Olivier Véran, said he was "attentive to the situation in Italy" in an interview with the Parisian on Sunday. He considers "very likely" the possibility of new cases in France and ensures that the health system is preparing for a possible epidemic.
But for the moment, no border closure. On the transport side, "Air France normally operates all of its flights to and from Italy," an airline spokesperson told AFP on Sunday. For its part, the SNCF (rail transport) broadcasts messages in major French stations calling travelers to contact an emergency number in case of illness, but has not yet deployed any specific device on the subject of Italy.
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