Italy: 196 People Die of Coronavirus in 24 Hours

A startling 196 people have died in Italy due to the coronavirus in just the last 24 hours, which brings the nation’s death toll from 631 on Tuesday to 827 on Wednesday.

Moreover, a total of 12,462 people have been confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus in Italy as of Wednesday — an increase of 2,313 more people than Tuesday.

Over the weekend, the Italian government had decided to quarantine — or “red zone” — roughly 16 million people in the nation’s northern Lombardy region, as well as provinces in other neighboring regions.

But after panic ensued and swarms of people began fleeing the newly quarantined areas only to further spread the Chinese virus throughout the nation, the Italian government extended travel restrictions to cover the entire country.

“There won’t just be a red zone — there will be Italy,” said Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced on Monday evening at a press conference addressing the nation’s growing coronavirus epidemic.

Italian cities are not completely barren, however — despite orders from the Italian government to stay inside — as prison riots over fears stemming from the coronavirus spring up across the country, some of which have resulted in prison breaks and escapees taking to the streets.

Meanwhile, Italian hospitals are clearly overwhelmed by the overcrowding of coronavirus patients, with the director of intensive care at Sacco di Milano hospital stating that the amount of patients his hospital has been receiving on a daily basis are like numbers “of war.”

On Tuesday, the mayor of Bergamo announced that “patients who cannot be treated are left to die.” The Lombard Councilor for Welfare denies these claims, but nonetheless acknowledges that hospitals have indeed run out of space for patients.

“It may be that there are no places available in hospitals, but the regional system intervenes there,” said Lombard Councilor for Welfare Giulio Gallera, insisting that the coronavirus patients in need of hospital beds are being transferred to health care facilities in other regions.

You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.