(Newswire.net — March 11, 2020) — In Italy, 133 people have died in the last 24 hours from the virus corona, and the total death toll in that country has now risen to 366, health officials said.
The total number of infected persons in the same period jumped by as much as 25 percent, from 5,883 to 7,375, the Italian Civil Protection Agency said.
The government of Italy has declared quarantine in 15 northern and central provinces because of the virus corona, however, only a few days after the Italian PM Giuseppe Conte imposed a quarantine on the entire country.
The unprecedented move was announced by Conte on Monday evening local time and came as Italy’s death toll from the coronavirus rose by almost 30 percent in just one day, Russia Today reports.
The number of deaths jumped from 366 to 463 on Monday, while the total number of cases grew from 7,375 to 9,172, the report says. Mr. Conte announced that the whole country will go into a state of quarantine.
“There won’t be just a red zone,” Conte told reporters, “There will be Italy,” he said.
The restrictions will take effect on Tuesday morning, Conte said.
Besides restricting movement and banning any major public gathering, the new restrictions include a blanket ban on any public gatherings, sporting events, and movement all over Italy. Schools and universities will stay closed until April 3. The ban is likely to be prolonged.
Due to the restrictions, Italy is losing hundreds of millions of Euros daily. Various businesses are closed and are facing bankruptcy, especially those in tourism and transportation. There is a shortage of masks and people are on the edge of their patience.
The unrest has also triggered riots in Italian prisons where thousands of prisoners are demanding to be allowed to serve out sentences at their homes.
“There have been a series of rebellions across the country,” Italy’s prison administration head Francesco Basentini said on Monday, RT reports.