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Tag: Italy

  • Serie A clubs vote to continue league despite coronavirus

    All 20 clubs in the Italian Serie A have voted to resume the 2019-20 season whenever possible.

    There had been reports that some clubs were against restarting the season, with Italy having been one of the worst affected countries in Europe by coronavirus, however an agreement has now been reached between teams and the Italian football federation (FIGC).

    The news was confirmed via a conference call on Friday, however it depends on whether the Italian government gives permission for football to start again.

    Serie A president Paolo Dal Pino said: “Of course we want to play football, it would be against nature to say otherwise. Those who have a profession would always like to continue to do it, if it will be possible while respecting health standards and protocols.

    “We will strictly adhere to government advice, as we have always done. They can be sure of our constructive and collaborative spirit and that my harmony with [president of the FIGC Gabriele] Gravina is absolute”.

  • Govt approves app for Coronavirus contact tracing

    The Italian government has approved the use of a mobile phone app to support contact-tracing efforts in the fight against the spread of novel Coronavirus (COVID-19).

    The decision was taken in an overnight cabinet meeting, the government said on Thursday in a statement.

    The use of the app, known as “Immuni,” will not be compulsory, but officials say it will be effective only if at least 50 per cent of the population downloads it.

    The app allows a user who tests positive for the novel coronavirus to warn people he or she has been in close contact with via an anonymous message.

    To ensure privacy, Immuni will not use geolocation technology but is expected to detect nearby mobile phones using Bluetooth, which should therefore always be turned on.

    The government said people who refuse to use the app will not be penalised in any way, and said only public or state-controlled institutions will store and handle data from the app.

    According to media reports, the app should be ready by mid-May.

    According to Vittorio Colao, a former Chief Executive of Vodafone and Head of a Government Advisory Panel on Lockdown Exit Plans, “It is important to launch it by the end of May”.

    “If everybody or nearly everybody has it by the summer, good; otherwise it will not be of much use,” Colao told the Corriere della Sera newspaper on Wednesday.

    Italy is one of the countries in the world worst affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, with 27,682 deaths and 203,591 infections reported as of Wednesday.

  • Sports minister plays down chance of Serie A resuming

    Italy’s Sports Minister Vincenzo Spadafora said on Wednesday that the country’s top-flight Serie A soccer championship looked unlikely to resume this season because of the coronavirus epidemic.

    On March 9 Italy suspended the league campaign as part of a nationwide lockdown to curb a new coronavirus epidemic that has seen more than 200,000 confirmed cases and more than 27,000 deaths, the second highest tally in the world after the U.S.

    “I see an increasingly narrow path for the resumption of the Serie A… If I were one of the presidents (of the clubs) I would focus on the next season,” Spadafora told private TV broadcaster La7.

    France and the Netherlands have already declared their soccer seasons over, while the English Premier League, the German Bundesliga and Serie A have said they want to finish.

    “These decisions (in France and in the Netherlands) could push Italy to follow this line, which would become a European line,” Spadafora said.

    He added that he thought a majority of Serie A presidents might soon ask to suspend the league and prepare for the next championship.

    Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has announced that lockdown measures will be eased from May 4, with training for sports teams possibly allowed from May 18.

    The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) has drawn up a medical protocol for training, but Spadafora said the government’s scientific expert did not deem it sufficient, and that discussions would continue.

    “If the championship should ever resume, it will certainly be behind closed doors,” Spadafora said.

    There are 12 rounds of matches still to play in Serie A plus a number of games from previous rounds.

    Title holders Juventus are one point clear of Lazio at the top.

  • I won’t live in England again – Sarri

    I won’t live in England again – Sarri

    Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri says he’ll never live in England again.

    Sarri had a difficult season with Chelsea, though won the Europa League.

    When asked if he misses England, Sarri replied: “I would never live there [again], I don’t understand how the Italians who are there do it.

    “As for the football, it’s a different story. I miss the Premier League.

    “It has an extraordinary technical level and an incredible atmosphere.”

  • Coronavirus claims 700 lives in Italy in one day

    Coronavirus claims 700 lives in Italy in one day

    Italy’s record death toll from the novel coronavirus grew by more than 700 on Wednesday, as a top official said that social restrictions were getting harder to bear for the population.

    The nationwide lockdown had been due to expire on April 3, but Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced it would now be extended to April 13 – Easter Monday.

    “We are not in a condition to ease the restrictive measures we have put in place,” he told a late evening press conference.

    “If we were to stop respecting the (social distancing) rules, if we were to relax them, all the efforts made so far would have been in vain,” the prime minister added.

    Earlier, the Civil Protection Agency announced 727 fatalities linked to the Covid-19 disease, bringing the total number of dead to 13,155, by far the world’s highest figure.

    Conte called the rising death toll “a particularly painful wound, a wound which we will never be able to heal.”

    Total infections, including recoveries and deaths, reached 110,574, a 4.5-per-cent daily increase, up from a 4-per-cent change registered on Tuesday.

    According to dpa.NAN, Italian health authorities have said that the contagion curve has reached “a plateau,” and that more efforts are needed to bring it down.

    Speaking in the Senate, Health Minister Roberto Speranza warned against “facile optimism that may undermine the efforts made: the first positive signals do not mean that the alarm is over.”

    Schools are shut, most shops and factories are closed, public gatherings are banned and people are under orders to stay home unless for work, emergencies and unavoidable errands like buying food.

    The “social malaise” brought about by the restrictions “is one of the relevant aspects” of the crisis, Agostino Miozzo, a senior Civil Protection Agency official, told a group of foreign journalists.

    At the start of the emergency the focus was on saving lives, but now “with the whole country [locked down] at home … we realize that this is a very stressful situation,” he said.

    He mentioned cases of scuffles in supermarket queues, as well as the increased risk of domestic violence, as clear signs of growing social tensions.

  • Coronavirus: Italy records over 900 deaths in one day

    Coronavirus: Italy records over 900 deaths in one day

    Over 900 people have died from the coronavirus in the past 24 hours in Italy, the biggest daily leap since the coronavirus pandemic began late December in China.

    The total death toll in Italy stood at 9,154 after 969 deaths were reported on Friday, CNN reports. This is the darkest day yet in a country that has been in a complete lockdown for almost two weeks.

    The disturbing death toll came after coronavirus cases worldwide surpassed the threshold of half a million, data from worldometers.info showed.

    The global death toll has also climbed past 25,000 after Spain, the 4th worst-hit nation recorded almost 800 deaths in the past 24 hours.

    Experts believe the death toll might even be twice the current figure as many people die without being tested.

    Countries have continued to report inadequate testing kits for potential patients of Covid-19, a strain of coronavirus which has continued to defy science.

    With nearly a 100,000 infections, the U.S which has become the country mostly ravaged by the disease, surpassing China were the virus is believed to have emanated from. This has marked a new milestone in the fight against the global pandemic

    Italy also became the second country to overtake China in the number of infections, reaching 86,498 cases.

  • Italian town jubilant as 101-year-old man beats Covid-19

    Italian town jubilant as 101-year-old man beats Covid-19

    Italy, a country in the grip of the world’s worst novel coronavirus epidemic, celebrated on Thursday the remarkable recovery of 101-year-old man from the Covid-19.

    The man, identified only as Mr P, was hospitalized about a week ago, and discharged on Thursday after fighting off the virus, his town of Rimini said in a statement.

    According to Rimini’s Deputy Mayor, Gloria Lisi, it is in the darkest of times that certain stories take on a broader meaning.

    Recalling that Mr P was born in the midst of the Spanish flu outbreak which killed at least 50 million people during the 1918-20.

    Lisi said his recovery had given hope for the future of all Italians. Elderly people are particularly vulnerable to Covid-19.

    Earlier, Italy’s National Health Institute reported an average mortality rate for Covid-19 patients of 7.1 per cent, rising to 22.9 per cent for those aged 90 and above.

    Rimini, a beach town on Italy’s Eastern Adriatic coast, is in Emilia-Romagna, the second-most affected region by the epidemic after Lombardy.

    On Wednesday, nearly 75,000 infections and around 7,500 deaths were reported across the whole of Italy. However, in Emilia-Romagna there were about 10,000 cases and 1,077 fatalities.

  • Italy’s Covid-19 death toll up by nearly 20% to 4,032

    Italy’s Covid-19 death toll up by nearly 20% to 4,032

    Italy’s death toll from COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, on Friday rose to 4,032, in a 18.4-per-cent increase from Thursday.

    In its daily bulletin, the Italian Civil Protection Agency also reports that the total number of contagions is up by almost 15 per cent to 47,021.

    Recoveries are up by 15.5 per cent to 5,129, while the number of intensive care patients, a closely watched figure given the shortage of hospital beds, has risen by around 6 per cent, to 2,655.
    Lombardy, which surrounds Milan, remained the region worst hit by the outbreak, with more than 22,000 cases and 2,549 deaths. Lazio, the region that include Rome, reports 1,008 cases and 43 deaths.

  • Victor Moses evicted from hotel in Italy

    Victor Moses evicted from hotel in Italy

    Former Super Eagles of Nigeria winger, Victor Moses, has been evicted from his hotel in Milan, Italy, according to Sportmediaset.

    This is due to the spread of coronavirus in the country.

    The sports news outlet reports that Moses and two other Premier League imports, Christian Eriksen and Ashley Young, were asked to leave Hotel Melià and look for new homes in order to be self-isolated.

    Former Super Eagles of Nigeria winger, Victor Moses, has been evicted from his hotel in Milan, Italy, according to Sportmediaset.

    This is due to the spread of coronavirus in the country.

    The sports news outlet reports that Moses and two other Premier League imports, Christian Eriksen and Ashley Young, were asked to leave Hotel Melià and look for new homes in order to be self-isolated.

  • Coronavirus spread puts all of Italy on total lockdown

    Coronavirus spread puts all of Italy on total lockdown

    Italy’s 60 million people on Tuesday were under lockdown with public events cancelled, movement restricted and schools and universities closed, in a drastic bid to slow the pace of COVID-19 infections.

    According to the sweeping measures announced on Monday by the government in Rome, people across the country are only allowed to leave their home for a few reasons, including grocery shopping, visits to the doctor and care for elderly or sick relatives.

    Overnight, panicked shoppers made a run on 24-hour supermarkets, in spite of the government insisting this is not necessary as people are still allowed to leave their homes to buy food.

    A report says the message is to make people to stay inside and avoid socialising.

    Cinemas and theatres were closed nationwide.

    Shops, bars and restaurants were only open to a limited extent.

    The nationwide emergency measures followed quickly on the heels of travel restrictions for large parts of northern Italy adopted on Sunday.

    The closure of all schools, universities and kindergartens has been extended from mid-March to at least early April.

    However, international train and flight connections, as well as local public transport, have not been restricted by Rome.

    Italy has the largest number of COVID-19 cases outside of mainland China.

    Since it was first detected in Italy in February, almost 10,000 people have contracted it, with 463 deaths.

    Hospitals in the hard-hit north report they are at capacity and places in the intensive care units are scarce.