As the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Italy surpasses 40,000, the Italian government has instructed the army to lock down the worst-affected region of the country.
The president of Lombardy, a northern region of Italy which includes the city of Milan, backed the move as Italy attempts to slow the spread of the coronavirus which has killed more than 3,000 people in Italy.
“[The request to use the army] has been accepted … and 114 soldiers will be on the ground throughout Lombardy … it is still too little, but it is positive,” Attilio Fontana said during a news conference on Friday.
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Fontana claimed the virus is still spreading throughout his region, and the troops are needed to enforce the closure of nonessential commercial activity and ban on public movement in an attempt to slow the spread.
“Unfortunately, we are not seeing a change of trend in the numbers, which are rising,” he said.
Videos circulating on social media on Thursday showed the Italian army transporting hundreds of coffins to Bergamo, Italy, where funeral workers say “a generation has died.”
“In a normal month we would do about 120 (burials),” said Antonio Ricciardi, the largest funeral provider in Bergamo. “A generation has died in just over two weeks. We’ve never seen anything like this, and it just makes you cry.”
