Italy has passed the 200 death mark and is approaching that of 6,000 cases of coronavirus. Dizzying figures, which prompted new decisions on Saturday to try to stem the epidemic. The country has decided to recruit 20,000 reinforcements for its hospitals and to place certain regions in quarantine. "In the coming hours", all of Lombardy, including the economic capital of the country Milan, as well as the region of Venice, the north of Emilia-Romagna and the east of Piedmont, will thus be affected by travel restrictions, announced several Italian media on Saturday evening. This quarantine will remain in force until April 3, according to the draft government decree quoted by the media, including the agency Ansa as well as the daily newspapers Il Corriere della Sera and La Repubblica .
Thousands of additional doctors, nurses and caregivers
The measure of reinforcements recruited, taken at the end of a council of ministers, should make it possible to increase from 5,000 to 7,500 the number of beds in intensive care, an increase of 50%, and to double the number of places in pulmonology and infectious disease services.
The most affected region of the peninsula, "Lombardy (3,420 cases), is facing a tense situation in its hospitals," acknowledged chief of civil defense Angelo Borrelli on Saturday evening. "We expect that we will be asked to transfer patients to intensive care units in other regions." The 20,000 hires should be distributed as follows: 5,000 specialized doctors, 10,000 nurses and 5,000 caregivers. The government decree provides for the possibility of recruiting retired doctors.
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All these measures represent one billion euros to be taken from the 7.5 billion released on Thursday by emergency by Rome to fight against the virus. The European Commission assured Saturday in Rome that these exceptional expenses would be excluded from the assessment of the country's deficit.
Italy is the second country with the most deaths
The decree also provides for the possibility of requisitioning hotels to house people in quarantine, as well as aid and funding in the amount of 50 million euros for companies producing protective masks and other products useful to stem the epidemic . In addition to the health sector, the government has made provisions for justice: until May 31, the courts will be able to limit access to the public and to personnel, and in particular decide to organize trials behind closed doors. The use of videoconferences will also be encouraged.
With 233 deaths, Italy is in second place behind China for the number of deaths, and in third place for the number of cases behind China and South Korea.