Italy to close all schools, universities amid coronavirus crisis

 Article by Amanda Woods in "New York Post":

Italy announced Wednesday it will temporarily close all its schools and universities as the country continues to grapple with a surge in coronavirus infections, according to new reports.

Those closures will begin Thursday and last until mid-March, CNBC reported.

Italian officials also said they may set up a new quarantine area, or “red zone,” in an attempt to contain the outbreak.

“None of us can be sure about the future evolution of the disease,” Angelo Borrelli, head of the country’s Civil Protection Agency, said at a Tuesday news conference. “This is an important week to understand what will happen.”

Red zones have already been set up in Lombardy and Veneto, where 11 towns are quarantined and inhabitants are prohibited from leaving.

Hospitals, particularly those in northern Italy, are struggling to carry the weight of those infected. An ambulance driver in an existing “red zone” told La Repubblica newspaper that “hours [will be] decisive” and “if the infection spreads it will be hard.”

By Wednesday morning, 2,502 cases of COVID-19 had been reported in Italy, according to Italian media reports published ahead of the daily official count released by the Civil Protection Agency.

The official death toll rose to 79 on Tuesday, up from 52 on Monday.

Those numbers at one point early Wednesday even exceeded the figures in Iran, until the Islamic Republic released its official death and infection count. A total of 2,922 people have been infected there and 92 have died, officials announced — though some doubt has been cast on the accuracy of that tally, according to CNBC.

Meanwhile, Poland confirmed its first coronavirus infection, the country’s health minister, Lukasz Szumowski, said Wednesday.

The man is being treated at a hospital in Zielona Gora, western Poland, where his life is not in danger, according to reports. He is not elderly or “part of a risk group,” the official said.

https://nypost.com/2020/03/04/italy-to-close-all-schools-universities-amid-coronavirus-crisis/