Italy’s Coronavirus Death Toll Surpasses That of China By Zachary Evans
The death toll from Wuhan coronavirus in Italy has surpassed the number of reported deaths in China, marking a new milestone in the coronavirus pandemic.
Italy reported 427 new deaths from the coronavirus on Thursday, with a total of 3,405 to China’s 3,245, according to Reuters.
Italy now has 41,035 confirmed cases of coronavirus. The country remains on lockdown with travel restrictions between provinces as authorities struggle to contain the spread of the illness.
Most of Italy’s cases are centered in the country’s northern Lombardy region, home to the city of Milan. Videos shot by townspeople in Bergamo, near Milan, showed Italian soldiers arriving in a column of military vehicles to remove the bodies of coronavirus victims. Bergamo’s cemeteries did not have the capacity for all the bodies.
Italy’s government is considering further measures to reduce the amount of time spent outside their homes.
“I hope there will soon be measures to restrict people jogging or going out for walks,” said Luca Zaia, the governor of the Veneto region neighboring Lombardy. “I’m sorry about that but the alternative is intensive care, hospitalization and contagion.”
Meanwhile, China on Thursday reported zero new cases of the coronavirus in the outbreak’s epicenter of Wuhan. However, the country’s number of reported cases has come under scrutiny as the Chinese Communist Party has restricted foreign and domestic journalists in their coverage of the outbreak.
On Wednesday China announced the expulsion of all American reporters for the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post from mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. The U.S. National Security Council slammed the move.
“The Chinese Communist Party’s decision to expel journalists from China and Hong Kong is yet another step toward depriving the Chinese people and the world of access to true information about China,” the NSC said in a statment posted on Twitter. “The United States calls on China’s leaders to refocus their efforts from expelling journalists and spreading disinformation to joining all nations in stopping the Wuhan coronavirus.”
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