Europe The Economist March 21st 2020
Italy and covld-19I
1The race against time
ROME
Italy is set tu become the wont-affected coUllby, for now
Lombardy who have tested positive had
grown tot7,713, almost half the national to-
tal. Of these, i,959 had died and 924 were in
intensive care.~ Also In this section
46 Spain unites against the virus
47 Frontier theatre
47 Frlnce suspends local elections
48 Deplinthing Alexander the Grut
48 Putin's power gnsb
49 Chartemagne: Europe. more or lessment (see Briefing) will begin to slow the
spread of the virus in northern Italy and
mitigate its effects on the rest of the coun-
try, where it could speedily overwhelm
health services far weaker than that of
prosperous Lombardy. It is grimly predict-
able that Italy's death toll of 2,978 when l1le
Ba>nomistwent to press will soon pass Chi-
na's to become the hJghest in the world.
In Lombardy, the number of new daily
cases is still growing, but as a share of the
total existing cases the number is starting
to fall. By March 18th it was down to 9.296.
Three days earlier, the governor, Attilio
Fontana. noted the change. "Let's hope it is
the st.art of a trend reversal,u he said. But he45G
IULIO GALLBRA, a Milanese cor:porate
lawyer from Silvio Berlusconi's Forza
Italia party, is health minister in the re-
gional government of Lombardy. "We are
working hour by hour," be said on March
:17th. "Yesterday, we were almost [down] to
zero beds in intensive care: What were
lacking were ftlltilators to go with the oth-
er equipment. But then the Red cross of-
fered 30. "When, at 1opm, the news came
through of those 30 ventilators, I almost
wept," said Mr Gallem.
The next few days will be crucial in
showing whether draconian containment
measures ordered by the central govem- added: "I am saying it in a whisper.» ~Nowhere is Italy's iace against time
more dramatically evident than in Lombar-
dy, the region around Milan and the one
worst hit by the spread of covid-is. In the
city of Bergamo, the virus has over-
whebned. the local health system. Doctors
have been taking life-and-death decisions
since last month, deciding which patients
should be put on the available ventilators.
It is hoped that a vast malreshift intensive-
care unit being assembled at the Milan ex-
hibition centre will supply the capacity
Lombardy needs to cope with relentlessly
growing demand. MrBerlusconi has perso-
nally donated €1.om ($mil) to the project.
By March 18th the number of people in
- Going10uth
Ila~ cavld-19 cases. 2020
Febru1ry25lhMiian • Beipmo. ~..
Rome.Socin:e: Departmeiltof Otil ProtectionM1rch6th- •
... " .. --...
Mlrch18th- ..
r:s:_;:
\fY.- 100- ..
- ••••
......
- ••••
- • •
....