Uddrag fra TV2, som bringer interview med dansk dreng i Italien, i et af de coronavirus ramte områder:
– Mine forældre var meget utrygge, og inden de rejste hjem, henvendte de sig til Sundhedsstyrelsen, som tog meget let på det. De skulle ikke foretage sig noget, selvom min mor er dagplejemor, og min stedfar er skolelærer, siger han.
Nu overvejer den 25-årige dansker selv at tage hjem. Men han er urolig for, om han tager virussen med sig hjem.
Videre skriver TV2 på sin hjemmeside:
– Hvis jeg tager hjem nu, bringer jeg så virussen med til Danmark? Når Sundhedsstyrelsen ikke gør noget ved folk, der vender hjem fra de ramte områder i Italien, hvad skal man så gøre? Skal man sætte sig selv i karantæne i 14 dage?
Sundhedsstyrelsen: Ingen grund til bekymring
Siden interviewet med Christian Thinggaard Rasmussen har TV 2 været i kontakt med Sundhedsstyrelsen.
Den ser ingen grund til bekymring og har derfor ikke ændret sin risikovurdering i forhold til at rejse til eller opholde sig i Italien.
Antal smittede begynder nu at eksplodere uden for kina, dele af Norditalien forbereder sig nu på langvarig karantæne, hvor alle samlinger aflyses.
Fra Zerohedge:
The Italian government is taking similar steps after confirming 133 cases, up from just three less than 72 hours ago. In that time, Italy has become host to the largest coronavirus outbreak outside Asia.
As Rome scrambles to contain the outbreak, authorities on Sunday banned all public gatherings, including Venice’s famed carnival celebrations that honor the beginning of Lent. The last two days of the carnival have been cancelled as fashion week in Milan was also cancelled, forcing the cancellation of the famed Giorgio Armani show, which had been scheduled for Sunday afternoon.
Carnivale drew tens of thousands of revelers to the region which unfortunately is home to one of several clusters of outbreaks in Northern Italy.
While Italy’s impoverished south has so far done little to prepare for the outbreak, in the north, museums, schools, universities and other public venues will be closed in Venice, as well as the rest of the Veneto region, through March 1.
According to ABC, three patients in Venice have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus, all of them in their late 80s and who are hospitalized in critical condition.
Most of Italy’s cases are clustered in the north, where the most extreme lockdowns are being implemented. 25 cases have been isolated in Veneto, and the rest in Lombardy, with authorities still unable to track down the source of the virus. The first case was discovered last week when an Italian man in Codogno in his late 30s became seriously ill.
In Turin, the biggest and most economically vital city of the Piedmont region, three cases have now been diagnosed, and a family of three are being tested, according to authorities.
“The health officials haven’t been yet able to pinpoint Patient Zero,”Angelo Borrelli, head of the national Civil Protection agency, told reporters in Rome.
Initially, authorities believed this man was infected by an Italian friend with whom he had recently dined, and who also had just returned from Shanghai. When the friend tested negative for the virus, attention turned to several Chinese who live in town and who frequent the same restaurant. Regional Gov. Attilio Fontana said they tested negative, too.
And they’re still not sure if he’s ‘patient zero’.
Across Italy, millions of Italians are preparing to be on lockdown for weeks, as many are hoarding essential supplies.
With 90 confirmed cases in Lombardy, the region has closed schools and universities, sporting events, other public events – and even catholic mass.
More bad news out of Hubei followed on Sunday, as Wuhan’s Union Jiangbei Hospital confirmed the death of a 29-year-old doctor. That’s the second death of a young doctor in Hubei in a matter of days (another doctor died late last week). Their deaths have stirred up memories of Dr. Li, a martyr of the virus and symbol of Beijing’s missteps.
As we noted last night, Hubei reported ~600 new cases on Saturday but nobody really believes the Chinese numbers anymore.
As Beijing tries to convince the world and its population that everything is under control, European Commission finance chief Paolo Gentiloni said the EU recently delivered 25 tonnes of protective equipment to China to help it contain the outbreak.
Looking inward, Gentiloni warned there is “no need to panic” about the outbreak in Italy, even though 2 people have died and more than 100 have been confirmed to be infected. “The EU has full confidence in the Italian authorities and the decisions they are taking,” he said.
“We share concern for possible contagion, but there is no need to panic.”
We suspect he will soon eat those words.
As the Trump administration confronts the unavoidable reality that it badly miscalculated by bringing those 14 sick passengers on the evacuation flight with ~300 seemingly healthy Americans from the Diamond Princess, Japanese officials confirmed on Sunday the third death among the ~2,600 passengers who traveled on the ship (along with another 1,000+ crew).
The ‘Diamond Princes’ remains the largest outbreak outside mainland China – but South Korea has probably already surpassed it, health authorities just haven’t been able to test sick patients fast enough.
Meanwhile, President Trump assured the public that the virus is “under control” in the US just as he reportedly asked Congress to authorize federal funds to combat the virus as the CDC warns only three states are truly prepared.
Elsewhere in the US, reports on Sunday claimed 325 People in Michigan were being monitored, all of whom had recently been to mainland China, according to local health authorities.
