Petrol stations across Italy are set to begin closing on Wednesday, with the major stations along highways to close first as companies express health and economic concerns.
Associations Faib Confesercenti, Fegica Cisl, and Figisc/Anisa Confcommercio announced that they would begin scaling back operations of petrol stations, saying: “We alone are no longer in a position to ensure neither the necessary level of health safety nor the economic sustainability of the service.”
“Nobody should think of continuing to treat us as slaves or martyrs,” the associations continued, adding in comments reported by Il Giornale: “We are people with families to protect.”
The closures will likely grind to a halt what little travel currently occurs in Italy during the strict, nationwide lockdown that has kept the vast majority of Italians in their homes except for essential trips such as for buying food and medical supplies.
Italians risk fines of around €200 for violating the lockdown and according to Il Giornale, since March 11th there have been 90,000 reports of violations from authorities across the country, over 10,000 on Monday alone.
A video of angered Italian politicians went viral earlier this week showing the Governor of Campania Vincenzo De Luca threatening to send police armed with flamethrowers to break up graduation parties.
Italy has become the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic with the country’s number of fatal cases eclipsing that of China, the source of the virus, last week.
The country had seen several consecutive days of few cases until Tuesday when released figures showed a new increase in cases with the death toll jumping by 12.2 per cent for a total of 6,820 victims of the virus.