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HEALTH-VIRUS-ITALY-FUNERAL
Sicily funeral goers in trouble for breaking virus rules
ROME, March 10, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Almost 50 people in Sicily faced stiff
fines Tuesday for disobeying Italian rules and holding a funeral in the
middle of the novel coronavirus outbreak, media reports said.
The sombre procession was moving through the streets of Porto Empedocle on
the island’s southwestern coast when the carabinieri police were alerted by a
passerby, the AGI news agency said.
The 48 mourners will face prosecution in Agrigento, a small city near by,
where each one can be fined 206 euros ($234) and even jailed for up to three
months.
Italy on Tuesday unveiled unprecedented social containment measures aimed
at halting the spread of a disease that has killed 463 people and infected
more than 9,000 in just over three weeks.
These include a ban on public gathering. The funeral ban falls under rules
that also cover weddings.
Sicily has so far registered only 54 infections and no deaths.
BSS/AFP/RY/20:48 hrs