Italy sounds the alert in the face of the resurgence of the epidemic of coronavirus among its neighbours. The country, which remains closed to nationals of Balkan and requires a quarantine for travellers from Romania and Bulgaria, is concerned about being "encircled" by the increase in contagious diseases in coronavirus in its eastern european neighbors.
"France, Spain, the Balkans : Italy is surrounded by the contagion," cautions Monday, the daily Il Corriere della sera, which published an infographic listing the number of new cases in the past two weeks in the european countries. Spain is far in the lead, followed by Romania, France, Germany, Great Britain and Poland.
"We need to be ready"
The peninsula, far behind, was registered on Sunday, two people died, toll the lowest since the 21 February, the date of the first deaths in the country. If the number of new cases is less good (+ 463 in 24 hours), the situation remains under control, according to the authorities. But "not to worry (of new cases from abroad) would be the point of unconsciousness," said the minister of Health Roberto Speranza, the Corriere.
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The fear is that new homes are created from imported cases from neighbouring countries, as these thirty young Italians of the Veneto region (north-east) on holiday in Croatia and returned with the virus, the history of which has been widely taken up by the Italian media. "We must be ready : for the next two weeks, the number of contagions the return (from a trip abroad, editor's NOTE) will increase," says Rodolfo Punzi, director of the department of infectious diseases hospital Cotugno of Naples (south), cited by La Stampa.
Italy has imposed a cordon sanitaire, with some countries closing their doors to travellers from Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro, Bosnia and herzegovina, Northern Macedonia, and Moldova. Those coming from Bulgaria and Romania must observe a quarantine and a medical follow-up. In the first line when the arrival of the coronavirus in Europe, Italy is a good student with strict rules of mask-wearing and social distancing, even if the behaviors are released with the arrival of summer and vacation. The newspapers are full of photos showing beaches crowded during the week-end in Liguria (north-west), known for its seaside resorts.
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