As the first wave dries up more and more in Italy, it is now time to report to the government on a management that has made the country one of the most affected in the world. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was heard on Friday for almost three hours by a magistrate on the government's management of the coronavirus crisis, said his press service.
The prosecutor of Bergamo (north), Maria Cristina Rota, interviewed Giuseppe Conte for the Prime Minister's Office in Rome, within the framework of an investigation into the delays last March in the creation of "red zones" in two municipalities in the north of the country , as the epidemic exploded.
Long overdue red areas
The magistrate and her team, who arrived at the prime minister's office early in the morning in front of the journalists' cameras, were also to hear the ministers of health, Roberto Speranza, and of the interior, Luciana Lamorgese. The prosecution of Bergamo, a martyr city in the Lombardy region and epicenter of the epidemic that struck Italy from early February to May and killed more than 34,000 people, is conducting several separate investigations related to this tragedy.
One of them has hit the headlines in recent days in Italy. It concerns the delays in the creation of a "red zone" comprising two municipalities in this department, Nembro and Alzano Lombardo, particularly affected by the Covid-19.
Return of ball and responsibility
The central government and the leaders of Lombardy reject the responsibility for this delay, which had a dramatic impact with the saturation of the health system, the increase in mortality and the spread of the new coronavirus in this region.
Wednesday evening, Giuseppe Conte had assured that he "would conscientiously report" to the prosecutor "of all the facts to his knowledge", saying "not at all worried". "All inquiries are welcome," he said. As part of this investigation, Silvio Brusaferro, president of the Italian Higher Institute of Health (ISS), who advised the government in the management of the crisis, was heard on Wednesday evening by the magistrates of Bergamo, but nothing n filtered on this hearing.
The President of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana, and his regional health official, Giulio Gallera, heard they were heard at the end of May, saying that the decision to establish the "red zone" was up to the government in Rome. For the Minister of Regional Affairs, Francesco Boccia, the region could have set up the same "red zone" by itself, the law authorizing it. The whole question concerns who, from the central government or from Lombardy, should have taken this decision between March 3 and 9.
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- Giuseppe Conte