Italy orders school closures in bid to contain coronavirus
Move marks escalation of efforts to halt spread of Europe’s worst outbreak
The Italian government has ordered the closure of all schools and universities as Rome stepped up its effort to contain the largest coronavirus outbreak in Europe.
Italy is struggling to halt the spread of a virus that has killed 107 people in the country and infected more than 2,700. Eleven towns in Italy’s wealthy north — and their 50,000 residents — are under lockdown while public gatherings and sporting events have been banned in the most affected regions.
Schools and universities are already closed in several of the northern regions at the centre of the outbreak, including Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia Romagna. But the decision to extend the closure across the entire country underlines the seriousness of the situation. Japan last month shut all of its schools until April 8.
Lucia Azzolina, education minister, confirmed all schools and universities would be closed from Thursday until March 15.
“It was not an easy decision,” Mr Azzolina said. “We are waiting for the opinion of the scientific committee and we decided as a precautionary measure to suspend the teaching activities.”
Giancarlo Caiazzo, a student representative at Rome’s La Sapienza University, said the timing of the closures would have a big impact on the tens of thousands of young people who were due to take exams.
“The priority must be to guarantee the health of the population . . . but I hope students will not be forgotten. A balance has to be found between protecting the right to education and caution towards the virus,” he said.
Italy has already announced a €3.6bn package to mitigate the impact of the virus on the eurozone’s third-largest economy, which was already on the brink of recession. Rome is also seeking authorisation from Brussels to increase the budget deficit for this year.
As the consequences of the deadly outbreak continued to ripple out across society, Silvio Brusaferro, president of the country’s National Health Institute, urged Italians to wash their hands frequently, stay at least one metre apart and avoid crowded places, and to stop the traditional Italian greeting of kissing on the cheek.
“We have to work for the country by staying within the rules and adopting lifestyles that help us interrupt transmission channels,” Mr Brusaferro said.
After a high concentration of people tested positive for the virus near the city of Bergamo, near Milan, authorities are also considering a new quarantined red zone. Angelo Borrelli, Italy’s coronavirus commissioner, said: “No one can be sure how the disease will evolve. This week is very important to understanding what will happen.”
Vincenzo Spadafora, Italy’s minister for sport and youth, told parliament that the government would order all football matches and other big sporting events to take place behind closed doors. “We are heading towards this decision,” he said. Ten top division games have already been postponed, including league leader Lazio’s visit to Atalanta.
Ten top-division games have already been postponed, including league leader Lazio’s visit to Atalanta.