![]() ![]() ![]() Michele Emiliano, governor of Puglia, the region in the “heel” of Italy, signed an order on Sunday that obliges residents of Puglia who arrive from Lombardy to go into quarantine. The functioning train stations in the north enraged some southern Italian governors, who fear passengers would transmit the disease to the local population. But the train stations and airports in Lombardy remained open on Sunday, presumably to allow Italians to return to their homes, although there was some confusion as to whether they would remain open and be subject to passenger controls at checkpoints, or soon be closed. Museums and gyms are also to be closed, and employees are being told to “smartwork” – work from home, if possible. Professional soccer games are to be held in empty stadiums. The angelus was cancelled to discourage the faithful and tourists from visiting the square. On Sunday, he used a video link to present his angelus prayers, which he normally leads in person from a window overlooking St. Pope Francis has cancelled public appearances. The restrictions will be reinforced by the police and army and are to remain in place until April 3. It bans any public gatherings that “do not allow a safety distance of at least one metre to be respected.” ![]() The draconian restrictions will result in the closing of ski resorts, the cancellation of funerals and weddings and allow only small groups allowed into stores, where customers are required to stay one metre apart from each other. The decree also applies to parts of Emilia-Romagna (whose biggest city is Bologna), Piedmont (Turin), Veneto (Venice) and the Marches (Ancona). “We want to contain the spread of the contagion and avoid overloading the hospitals.”Įverything you need to know about the coronavirus, from face masks to travel risks “We are facing a national emergency,” Mr. Lombardy emerged as the European epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak two weeks ago, when 10 towns just south of Milan and one town in the adjacent Veneto region were placed into quarantine, affecting 50,000 people. Conte signed the sweeping lockdown decree early on Sunday morning, banning the movement of people in and out of Lombardy, Italy’s wealthiest and most populous region, whose main city is Milan. Italy now has more confirmed cases than South Korea and second to China where the outbreak started. By Sunday, Italy had reported 7,375 COVID-19 cases – up by 1,492 in 24 hours – and 366 fatalities so far. The extreme measures came two days after Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte closed all the schools, including universities, and one day after Italy’s coronavirus infection and fatality count surged. Milan became the European version of Wuhan over the weekend, when the bustling commercial hub and 14 regions in northern Italy went into lockdown, putting 16 million people – equivalent to almost half the population of Canada – into isolation. Researchers studying the impact of emissions from industry and transport on climate change and human health are scrambling to understand the possible implications of the pandemic as economies slow, flights are disrupted and quarantines imposed.Please log in to bookmark this story. Satellite image from March 11, 2020. European Space Agency via Reuters ![]() Italy has been hardest hit by the outbreak in Europe, with more than 21,100 confirmed cases and more than 1,400 dead, and the government has imposed the most severe controls placed on a western nation since the Second World War. “Although there could be slight variations in the data due to cloud cover and changing weather, we are very confident that the reduction in emissions that we can see coincides with the lockdown in Italy causing less traffic and industrial activities,” Claus Zehner, who manages the agency’s Copernicus Sentinel-5P satellite mission, said in a statement.Īn animated image showing nitrogen dioxide emissions across Europe in January 2020. European Space Agency via ReutersĮSA published an animation showing how nitrogen dioxide emissions fluctuated across Europe from January 1 to March 11, using a 10-day moving average, clearly showing pollution levels dropping over northern Italy. The European Space Agency said it had observed a particularly marked decline in emissions of nitrogen dioxide, a noxious gas emitted by power plants, cars and factories, over the Po Valley region in northern Italy. Air pollution over northern Italy fell after the government introduced a nationwide lockdown to combat coronavirus, satellite imagery showed on Friday, in a new example of the pandemic’s potential impact on emissions.Ĭhina, where the outbreak started, showed a marked reduction in pollution after the government imposed travel bans and quarantines, and the data from Italy, which was hit hard several weeks later, suggested a similar pattern. ![]()
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