![]() ![]() Trudie Lang at the University of Oxford says we will have to wait and see if Italy’s efforts work. But buying time for health services to cope is vital, she adds. “I think it’s too early to say whether the travel restrictions will be effective, especially since people were moving in and out of the lockdown area before it was implemented,” says Devi Sridhar at the University of Edinburgh, UK. Read more: Coronavirus: Are there two strains and is one more deadly?ĭespite some evidence from China, researchers say we don’t know if the measures will work in Italy. Still, he cautions: “It’s not a guarantee.” In Italy, he says the restrictions won’t necessarily stop the disease moving, but it should delay the spread. “The reason China could cope was it only had one Wuhan,” he says. Ryan compares the step with strict restrictions on movement in the Chinese province of Hubei and the city of Wuhan, where the virus originated. “Reducing the flow of potential infections in other areas may offer those zones time to prepare and have a different outcome,” he says. ![]() Ryan at the WHO says the measures could buy time for other areas to prepare. The big question is whether they will work. And we hope they prove effective in the coming days,” said World Health Organization (WHO) director Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press conference on Monday. “We are encouraged that Italy is taking aggressive measures to contain its epidemic. A report in The Guardian said 733 people were in intensive care in the Lombardy region, one of the worst affected regions, but it only has about 500 public health intensive care beds. The Italian authorities said the draconian measures are necessary to slow the spread of the virus and relieve the burden on healthcare systems. Read more: Coronavirus: What are the worst symptoms and how deadly is covid-19? British Airways announced on Tuesday that it was cancelling all flights to and from Italy. However, flight-tracking service Flightradar24 says that more than 250 flights departed from the five airports for Milan and Venice on Monday, the area initially locked down on Sunday. The travel ban is being enforced on roads by the Carabinieri (military police), while rail services – including night trains from Paris to Venice – have been cancelled. The measure, unexpectedly extended to the whole of Italy on Monday night, means people must limit travel except for work or medical reasons, or risk a three month prison sentence or a €206 fine. Travel restrictions just for northern Italy were first leaked on Saturday, causing panicked reactions before an official decree was published on Sunday. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said Italy may not stop at the current restrictions and could use further “massive shock therapy”. As of 10 March, the country had diagnosed more than 9100 cases, second only to China. ![]() Italy has put the country’s 60 million people on lockdown in the most drastic action taken outside China to tackle the spread of coronavirus. ![]() Pier Marco Tacca/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images ![]()
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