ROME, March 7, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Italy on Saturday began recruiting retired
doctors as part of urgent efforts to bolster the healthcare system with
20,000 additional staff and fight the escalating viral epidemic.
The measure was one of several adopted by the government during an all-
night cabinet meeting that came after the Mediterranean country reported 49
more deaths.
Friday’s toll from the novel coronavirus was the highest of the two-week
crisis and took Italy’s fatalities total to 197 — the biggest outside China
itself.
The accelerating spread of the COVID-19 disease emptied Italian train
stations and airports while turning usually thronging parts of Rome into a
ghost town.
Many of the city’s outdoor restaurants and cafes were either closed on
Friday night or had free tables overseen by forlorn staff with little to do
but chat.
The expansive street that runs from Rome’s Colosseum along the Forum was
deserted and the magnificent ruins stood in their natural splendour — and
without being swarmed by tourists — on a sunny, warm Saturday morning.
The sharp drop in visitor numbers is wreaking havoc with the Italian
tourism industry and contributing to fears that the anaemic economy is about
to tip back into recession.
But the government’s most immediate concern is that COVID-19 infections
that had been largely contained to pockets of the richer north will start
spreading into the poorer and less medically equipped south.
The World Health Organization concluded a mission to Italy on Friday by
recommending the government keep “a strong focus on containment measures”.
The government said its medical recruitment drive should help double the
staff of hospitals’ respiratory and infectious disease departments.
It should also increase the number of intensive care beds from 5,000 to
7,500 in the coming days.
The number of Italians receiving intensive care treatment for the COVID-19
disease reached 462 on Friday.
The total number of coronavirus infections grew to 4,636 on Friday.
The Mediterranean Sea island of Malta that sits just south of Sicily
reported its first case on Saturday.
– Vatican worries –
The Vatican is also unrolling unprecedented health precautions designed to
keep the tiny city state’s 450 mostly elderly residents safe.
A first COVID-19 infection was recorded at one of its clinics on Thursday
and the results were awaited on another person who was tested after appearing
at a Vatican-organised event last month.
That conference was also attended by Microsoft President Brad Smith and
European Parliament President David Sassoli.
The Vatican said all attendees were being notified about the test as a
precaution.
The pope himself missed that conference because he has been out of action
for more than a week with a cold.
The Vatican is expected to announce Saturday whether the 83-year-old
pontiff will still deliver his Angelus Prayer from a window facing Saint
Peter’s Square on Sunday afternoon.
There has been media speculation that the pope might deliver the prayer by
video link for the very first time.
The Vatican said on Thursday is was considering changes to the pope’s
schedule “to avoid the dissemination” of the new disease.