A few days into Italy’s lockdown, people across the country sang and played music from their balconies as they came together to say “Everything will be alright” (Andrà tutto bene).
Three weeks on, the singing has stopped and social unrest is mounting as a significant part of the population, especially in the poorer south, realise that everything is not all right.
“They are no longer singing or dancing on the balconies,” said Salvatore Melluso, a priest at Caritas Diocesana di Napoli, a church-run charity in Naples. “Now people are more afraid – not so much of the virus, but of poverty. Many are out of work and hungry. There are now long queues at food banks.”
Poverty and fears
There have been far fewer coronavirus deaths in Italy’s south compared with the worst-affected northern regions, but the pandemic is having a serious impact on livelihoods.
Tensions are building across the poorest southern regions of Campania, Calabria, Sicily and Puglia as people run out of food and money.
There have been reports of small shop owners being pressured to give food for free, while police are patrolling supermarkets in some areas to stop thefts.
The self-employed or those working on contracts that do not guarantee social benefits have lost salaries, and many small businesses may never reopen.
Paride Ezzine, a waiter in Palermo, Sicily, no longer gets his salary. “Obviously, due to the lockdown, the restaurant closed,” he said. “I have a wife and two children and we’re living off our savings. But I don’t know how long they will last. I asked my bank to postpone payment instalments – they said no. This situation is bringing us to our knees.”
This is what desperation looks like in souther Italy right now:
Mafia loves crisis
For over a month, shops, cafés, restaurants and pubs have been closed.
Millions of people work in the grey economy, which means that they haven’t received any income in more than a month and have no idea when they might return to work.
The government is issuing so-called shopping vouchers to support people, but it’s not enough.
The Mafia is gaining local support by distributing free food to poor families in quarantine who have run out of cash across the poorest southern regions of Campania, Calabria, Sicily and Puglia.
Criminal organisations in Italy also offer interest-free lending to the needy to try to extend their influence and are ready to snatch up struggling businesses.
If the state doesn’t step in soon to help these families, the mafia will provide its services, imposing their control over people’s lives.
And I tell you, this will become a widespread phenomenon! It’s not going to happen only in Italy! Be prepared for the incoming societal and economic collapse, because it’s going to be very bad. [The Guardian]
Corona in the world: the difficult situation in Moscow and the preference for health over the economy in France
The outbreak of the corona virus has left at least 115,000 victims worldwide, and the United States has the highest death toll from the virus, surpassing the official death toll of 22,000.
Also in China, the primary outbreak of corona, which has lifted quarantine restrictions for Hubei province and the city of Wuhan, is once again on the rise.
According to statistics from Monday, April 15, the number of new cases of coronavirus in China has reached its highest level in the last two weeks, and 108 new cases have been identified from Sunday to Monday.
Electronic licenses in Moscow
In Russia, while the capacity of Moscow’s hospitals to accept patients with the Coronavirus is almost full, city officials have launched a system for issuing electronic permits to cross the border to tighten quarantine restrictions in Moscow.
With the announcement of 2,558 new cases of the coronavirus, the total number of people infected with the virus in Russia has reached more than 18,000, most of them in Moscow. So far, 148 people have died in Russia.
In Europe, the daily death toll from the Coronavirus virus dropped to 517 on Monday, according to the latest figures from Spanish authorities. However, the government has reduced quarantine restrictions for the reopening of some guilds.
In Germany, meanwhile, the number of new cases of coronavirus fell for the third day in a row, reaching 2,537. Thus, the total number of victims in Germany reached more than 123 thousand and with another 126 killed, the number of victims reached 2,799.
In France, while President Emmanuel Macron is scheduled to speak again in a televised address on Monday evening about the crisis over the Corona outbreak in the country, the results of a poll released on Monday show that 60% of French people decide to The extension or non-renewal of national quarantine in the country is based on the criteria of the capacity of the French medical system against the spread of coronavirus.
However, about 40 percent of French people believe that economic criteria and a return to economic activity should also be considered in this decision-making process.
Pope warns of domestic violence
In Italy, Pope Francis, the world’s Catholic leader, has warned of rising domestic violence during the quarantine period. Earlier, some international organizations and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres warned of this.
The Italian government recently announced that it has allocated 30 million euros to prevent domestic violence against women.
In Portugal, another European country affected by the coronavirus outbreak was announced on Monday that the price of consumer goods was stable last month despite the outbreak of the coronavirus.
In Turkey, the Ministry of Justice announced on Monday that three prisoners with the coronavirus had died. Also, 17 prisoners have been infected with the virus. Also on Sunday evening, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan opposed the resignation of the Interior Minister. The resignation followed riots during the quarantine of 30 Turkish cities.
In Asia, while the World Bank warns of the spread of poverty in the southern countries of the continent, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to speak on Tuesday about the spread of the coronavirus in the country. Earlier, the government announced a three-week quarantine on March 24.
So far, more than 9,000 people in India have been infected with the virus, including 308 who have died.
South Korea helps the United States
In South Korea, the media reported that the first shipment of Corona test kits had been sent to the United States. South Korea was the second largest country in the world in terms of the incidence of coronavirus in February, but with the help of extensive testing policies, it was able to control the spread of the virus in its soil.
South Korean President Nicolas Sarkozy has previously said in a telephone interview that US President Donald Trump has asked him to help South Korea test the United States on test kits.
In South America, in Ecuador, which is the second country with the corona virus after Brazil, there are problems with the treatment of patients with corona as well as the burial of victims due to the low capacity of the country’s health care system.
In Africa, more than 4,000 people have been detained in Morocco for failing to comply with restrictions imposed in the past two days, and many have been transferred to detention centers. More than 28,000 people have been detained in Morocco since the state of emergency was declared in mid-March, and some have been referred to the Moroccan judiciary.
and you know italian people be angry all the time anyway!!!!