Catholic priests kept their distance from Pope Francis over coronavirus fears today as Italy‘s 3ft safety rule reached the Vatican.
Francis held an audience in his private library with his clerical translators sitting a yard apart – the distance which Italy is demanding in public spaces to stop the spread of the virus.
St Peter’s Square stood empty today with the pontiff’s usual Wednesday appearance cancelled and worshippers forced to watch his catechism on a live-stream.
It came amid warnings that Italy’s nationwide lockdown could be tightened even further, with calls for public transport to be shut down entirely in the hard-hit region of Lombardy.
Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte today refused to rule out even tougher quarantine measures after the death toll surged to 631 on the first day of the lockdown yesterday, with more than 10,000 cases now confirmed.
Keeping their distance: Pope Francis gives his weekly audience in a Vatican live-stream – with his clerical translators keeping the recommended 3ft apart as the Italian quarantine measures reach the Holy See
Police cars were guarding St Peter’s Square and the Basilica behind it after the usually popular tourist sites were shut down because of the coronavirus outbreak
The outdoor seating area of a cafe in Milan is deserted today with northern Italy the worst-affected area in the virus outbreak
Milan’s famous shopping galleries were left deserted after the lockdown, which began in Lombardy earlier than elsewhere
Conte promised today that Italy would ramp up spending to help the economy withstand the crisis, saying that nearly £22billion had been put aside.
Last week the cabinet said it would need just £6.6billion, but the crisis has escalated dramatically since then and the nationwide lockdown has frozen the country’s economy.
Italy’s valuable tourism sector has also been hit, with many countries and airlines now blocking flights to Italy to stop the spread of the virus.
Landmarks including the Colosseum and the Leaning Tower of Pisa have been shut down while Milan’s famous shopping galleries are all but deserted.
Stefano Ruggiero, 48, who owns a perfume shop near Florence’s Ponte Vecchio bridge, said the business had been going since 1911 but ‘this is the quietest the street has ever been’.
Meanwhile restaurants and bars have been ordered to close at 6pm, and can only open at all if they can maintain the required 3ft safety distance.
A police officer checks cars entering Milan last night with drastic new restrictions on travel to stop the virus spreading
The Trevi Fountain in Rome, in an area often overflowing with tourists, has been deserted since the quarantine began
Two people push trolleys outside a supermarket in Corigliano-Rossano last night with some customers stocking up
Pigeons are among the only signs of life in the usually popular Piazza del Duomo in Milan, with the cathedral behind it shut
Italian football team Atalanta played their Champions League game against Valencia in front of an empty stadium last night
The tourism sector employs around one million people in the run-up to Easter, who now fear for their jobs.
Despite the economic impact, the head of the Lombardy region which includes Milan has today urged the government to shut down transport and non-essential businesses in an even tighter lockdown.
Attilio Fontana said he and 12 regional mayors had decided that more action was needed to halt the spiralling spread of Covid-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
‘If the contagion continues to spread at this speed, the system will not be able to hold on for much longer,’ Fontana told the newspaper Corriere della Sera.
‘We are really reaching the maximum limits,’ he added on Sky TG24 television. ‘It is clear that the situation is approaching a dangerous moment.’
‘Consideration should be given to suspending public transport because it is a definitely a means by which the virus spreads,’ he said.
The government in Rome was expected to review the request on Wednesday.
Two people look over a largely deserted Venice – a city which more commonly suffers the opposite problem of overcrowding
The Colosseum in Rome – usually heaving with tourists and people trying to sell them promotions – has been left deserted
St Peter’s Square was deserted today with Pope Francis transmitting his weekly audience via a Vatican live-stream
Pope Francis, who is thought to have tested negative for coronavirus last week, speaks today as seen on a Vatican screen
In Rome, Pope Francis held his weekly general audience in his private library, with the general public banned from St Peter’s Square.
Francis, 83, sent out special prayers for prisoners, the sick and hospital personnel caring for them, delivering his weekly catechism lesson via livestream rather than in person.
He was surrounded by a handful of priest translators who took turns delivering his comments in a variety of languages, making sure to sit 3ft apart.
Police have been barring access to St. Peter’s Basilica to anyone but individuals seeking to pray, as the Vatican falls in line with Italy’s quarantine measures.
The pontiff himself is thought to have tested negative for the virus last week after appearing to have a cold during an Ash Wednesday service, sparking alarm after he had hugged and kissed worshippers outside.
Outside the Vatican walls, the central streets of Rome were deserted this morning and buses which are usually crammed with commuters were running empty.
Some supermarket shoppers have begun to observe the 3ft distance by forming spaced-out queues as they stock up for a lengthy quarantine. Handshakes are also frowned upon.
‘For the love and a sense of responsibility toward Rome and all citizens, with enormous and profound disappointment, we decided to close to help the whole community out,’ said a sign on one restaurant in Rome.
‘As soon as the emergency has passed, we will organise a free carbonara day for doctors, nurses and healthcare workers.’
A man travels on a largely empty water bus in Venice, which is in one of the heavily-affected northern regions of Italy
A woman looks over a fence at St Peter’s Basilica (left) after the square was closed down, with an empty Colosseum right
A map showing the latest virus cases around the world, with Italy now recording the highest number of cases outside mainland China
An empty shopping gallery is seen in Milan last night, with tourists staying away because of the coronavirus crisis
Spain and Portugal have suspended air traffic from Italy for two weeks while Austria ordered a halt to flights and trains from its neighbour and Slovenia said it would impose controls at its border with the country.
British Airways has cancelled all its Italian flights on Tuesday, while Air France and low-cost carriers Ryanair, Easyjet and Wizz Air said they would scrap flights from Italian airports until early April.
Air Canada took even more drastic measures, suspending flights to Italy until at least May 1.
Australia on Wednesday said it would bar entry to foreign nationals who had been to Italy in the last 14 days – measures already in place for arrivals from China and South Korea.
Mask-wearing police at Rome’s main Termini train station were checking passengers’ reasons for travel and making sure everybody kept the recommended distance away from each other.
But the departures board was showing no sign of any cancellations. He said that when station staff realised he wasn’t Italian, he was told: ‘You’re foreign? Go, go!’ and waved through.
The rail service for Venice via Florence was only sparsely occupied but running nonetheless, with no checks for passengers disembarking at Florence.
The Thello company has cancelled its night services between Paris and Venice, as well as daytime trains between Milan and Marseille, until early April.
France’s national train company SNCF said on Tuesday it was “waiting for advice” about how to proceed regarding services to Italy.
Since late February, French staff on cross-border SNCF trains have been getting off before the Italian border and being replaced by Italian colleagues.
Some train services between Italy and Austria were still running Tuesday but that was expected to change, a spokeswoman for Austrian rail operator OeBB told AFP.
A spokeswoman for Germany’s Deutsche Bahn said that the only service it had linking it to Italy, between Munich and Venice, has been suspended.
Health workers at a checkpoint in Brescia in northern Italy, where the outbreak has become one of the worst outside mainland China
Beds are laid out at a checkpoint in Brescia, with the number of people in intensive care also rising rapidly
As the crisis escalates, doctors have described how hospitals have been ‘overwhelmed’ by the number of patients.
Doctors in Italy have been forced into life-or-death decisions over who should receive intensive care, with virus cases piling up around the country.
A medic in northern Italy told a friend in the UK that hospitals were running at ‘200 per cent capacity’ with operating theatres hurriedly converted into intensive care units.
Non-coronavirus cases are being sidelined with some medics being given a ‘leaflet’ and told to perform specialist tasks for which they are not qualified, while some patients over 65 are not even being assessed, the doctor said.
In addition, medical staff themselves are becoming ‘sick and emotionally overwhelmed’ and left ‘in tears’ because they cannot stop people dying, they said.
Meanwhile, nurses have been left bruised by constant face mask use and slumped over their desks from exhaustion as they battle the crisis.
One nurse, Alessia Bonari, posted a picture of her bruised face after wearing protective gear for hours during a shift in Milan.
A medic wearing a protective suit and face mask works at a triage centre in Brescia, in the region of Lombardy which has been worst affected by the crisis
An X-ray image appears on a screen at a medical centre in Brescia with many doctors and nurses working long hours because of the health crisis
Medics treat a patient at a hospital in Schiavonia, in northern Italy which has been worst-affected by the coronavirus outbreak in the country
Healthcare workers wearing protective suits, masks and gloves are pictured at work in the Amedeo di Savoia hospital in Turin
Describing life at the hospital, the nurse revealed how she could not drink or go to the bathroom for six hours after putting on her protective gear.
‘I am afraid because the mask may not adhere well to the face, or I may have accidentally touched myself with dirty gloves,’ she said.
‘I am physically tired because the protective devices are bad, the lab coat makes me sweat and once dressed I can no longer go to the bathroom or drink for six hours.
‘I am psychologically tired, as are all my colleagues who have been in the same condition for weeks.
The nurse also appealed to Italians to obey the quarantine rules, saying: ‘I will continue to take care of and take care of my patients, because I am proud and in love with my job.’
‘What I ask anyone who is reading this post is not to frustrate the effort we are making, to be selfless, to stay at home and thus protect those who are most fragile.
‘We young people are not immune to coronavirus, we too can get sick, or worse, we can get sick.
‘I can’t afford the luxury of going back to my quarantined house, I have to go to work and do my part. You do yours, I ask you please.’
Another nurse, Elena Pagliarini, was pictured slumped over her desk while still wearing her mask at a hospital in Cremona where she had been working around the clock.
The nurse had fallen asleep while still wearing her face mask and surgical gown with Italian hospitals ‘overwhelmed’ by the crisis.