Month: March 2020

A provincial official in Italy says a soccer game and a missed opportunity to detect one early coronavirus case might have contributed to the rapid spread of the disease in his hard-hit country. The mayor of Bergamo, Giorgio Gori, says his province, like many others in Italy, were not prepared for the coronavirus outbreak. Bergamo did not go into lockdown initially like 10 other towns in Lombardy and one in Veneto.  A case of pneumonia at a hospital in Bergamo province in late February was not recognized as coronavirus at the time. Gori believes that patient infected others, including doctors and nurses.Gori says another event is also believed responsible for the rapid spread of the virus in his province: a Champions League soccer game played February 19.Gori says 40,000 fans from the Bergamo area watched the match played at Milan’s San Siro stadium between Atalanta and Valencia.Many others watched the game at home in large groups, Gori added, and no doubt all those gatherings caused an escalation of the virus to nearly 7,000 cases.A moment of a funeral service without relatives in the cemetery of Zogno, near Bergamo, Northern Italy, March 21, 2020.Hospitals in the province of Bergamo have since been overwhelmed with patients. The death toll has not stopped rising and the province had nowhere to take bodies.Gori says the government was forced to request help from funeral services of other Italian regions and the army helped to take many of the bodies to crematoriums in other cities.For the past three days the number of confirmed cases in Italy has dropped and there is cautious optimism it is the start of a downward trend. But the head of the government’s coronavirus relief effort, Domenico Arcuri, implored Italians to continue to respect the stringent measures imposed on them because it will be the only way out of this crisis.Arcuri says that, “in a very short time we were harshly attacked by a strong, invisible and unknown enemy, adding that in the midst of “thousands of difficulties we reacted immediately and before many other countries in the world.The commissioner said Italy is facing an emergency without precedent and everyone must do their utmost to ensure that “this emergency does not spread to those regions where so far it has been contained.”  
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Britain’s Prince Charles has tested positive for the coronavirus.  A statement Wednesday said he “has been displaying mild symptoms” but is otherwise in good health.  His wife, Camilla, tested negative for the virus.  The couple is in self-isolation at a home in Scotland. 
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Turkey’s main city – Istanbul – is at the center of the country’s efforts to control the spread of the coronavirus.  Almost 40 people have died in Turkey and the virus has infected more than 1,500 people. Authorities are now ramping up restrictions, closing schools, shuttering entertainment venues and even halting prayers at mosques. As Dorian Jones reports from Istanbul, the city is learning to adapt to a new way of life.
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The Vatican is inviting Christians around the world to join Pope Francis in prayer against the coronavirus pandemic as some workers in Vatican City complain they are being discouraged from working from home. A church tweet says Francis will conduct his prayer service Wednesday at 1100 UTC.  Vatican officials have confirmed at least four coronavirus cases so far.  Although the church has said it is encouraging people TO work from what it calls “remote locations,” the Associated Press reports that workers in three different Vatican offices complain they have been told to show up in person from two to five days a week.  The offices include one that is said to handle sensitive church matters from which officials fear documents could disappear if the office is short-staffed. Another office, the so-called Propaganda Office, oversees the church’s work in developing countries.  “The whole of Italy closes down but not so the Vatican, at least not Propaganda Fide,” one commuter’s wife posted on Facebook. “It is dangerous, moving between cities, trains, metro and buses. I cannot believe that this is actually happening!” While church officials have yet to respond to such grievances, they again said that while Vatican offices will stay open, department heads should make sure “essential services”  are carried out with minimal staff while “incentivizing as much as possible remote working.” Pope Francis says he feels like he’s living in a “cage,” avoiding contact with the faithful and conducting video services instead of greeting pilgrims at St. Peter’s Square.  Some Catholic churches around the world still remain open despite the risks posed by congregations gathering in close contact during the coronavirus pandemic. 
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Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, is at the center of the country’s efforts to control the spread of COVID-19. Authorities are ramping up restrictions, as the number of infections increase. On Tuesday, Health Minister Fahrettin Koca announced the pandemic’s latest figures — seven new deaths, bringing the death toll to 44, with a total of 1,872 infections. With a population of more than 16 million people, Istanbul accounts for a fifth of Turkey’s population. It is seen as an indicator for the entire country’s ability to win or lose in its battle against COVID-19. Every night across Istanbul, like in other Turkish towns and cities, people cheer and whistle from their balconies or windows in support of the country’s medical workers.  The city is learning to live behind closed doors, including its children, who woke up Monday morning with their schools shuttered in the latest effort by Ankara to contain the coronavirus. Schools closed for two weeks, but many believe that remains an optimistic target, given that the epidemic remains in its infancy.  COVID-19 came late to Turkey. The first official infection was reported two weeks ago. Among the first steps taken by Ankara to contain the virus was to close cinemas, theaters and restaurants until further notice. With its culture of street restaurants, Istanbul is a city that loves to live outside. Now, the streets are silent and empty, devoid of bustling tables of customers enjoying the city’s famed culinary pleasures. Istanbul’s Kadikoy district a hub for the city’s famed restaurants is now empty and silent as all the country’s restaurants are closed as part of the battle to contain the epidemic. (VOA/Dorian Jones)Even prayers at mosques are suspended, possibly a first in the city’s long history.  Despite the severe measures, there is a growing awareness among Istanbul’s residents about the dangers of the virus. “Definitely there is a big danger, both for our country and the world,” said Muhammet, a student. “Immediately, precautions should be taken. We have no doubt scientists and health workers are doing their best.” But others are more critical of the government’s response. “They hid the virus. My nephew works at a hospital. There are six or seven virus victims at a time, when they kept saying that there is no virus. Who are they kidding?” said a retired woman who declined to give her name. “How come there isn’t? Why did they deny this? Why didn’t they take precautions, like stopping the planes coming to Istanbul?”  Ankara denies such criticism, insisting it is reacting with speed and transparency.  Private hospitals on the front line Istanbul’s numerous and well-equipped private hospitals are being put on the front line to fight the virus. “The government has declared all private hospitals “pandemic hospitals,” which gives it the authority to force them to accept corona patients and to set aside the facilities to treat them,” said analyst Atilla Yesilada of Global Source Partners.  “Medical residents have been drafted into active duty,” he added. “The administration is trying to soothe public concerns about a health crisis by assurances that staff, facilities, medicine and test kits are adequate for even dire scenarios.” Yesilada pointed out, however, that anecdotal evidence suggests there is growing criticism about exhaustion, poor safety standards, a lack of masks, gloves, and other vital equipment for hospital staff. On Sunday, Interior Minister Suleyman Soylu announced that authorities had raided depots belonging to medical suppliers suspected of hoarding vital equipment, including face masks. The Turkish Medical Association warned Sunday that inadequate regulations meant that all health care professionals are in danger of being infected. It also added that Turkey must immediately install new intensive care units. The Health Ministry rejected such criticisms as unfounded. The Interior Ministry introduced a nationwide measure controlling the number of people using food shops to ensure against overcrowding.  Earlier, people over 65 were banned from leaving home.  Istanbul municipal authorities have even started removing benches to discourage people from sitting and chatting. Police cars are touring Istanbul’s popular seafront areas telling people to go home. For now, Ankara has refrained from introducing compulsory lockdown measures for most of the population. But in Istanbul, much of the population is already heeding government calls to stay home and only work if essential. The use of the city’s public transportation has collapsed in two weeks. According to figures released by Istanbul’s Municipal Authority on Sunday, 800,000 people used the transport network, down from 4.8 million users two weeks prior — a 68% drop. Istanbul’s mayor, Ekrem Imamoglu of the opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), is calling on the city to stay strong. “Together, we will get through. Our country, our city, can be an example for the world on how to keep the coronavirus cases and fatalities low,” he said Imamoglu at a recent press conference. “My fellow citizens of Istanbul, we do have difficult days ahead of us, but everything will be beautiful. Don’t lose hope.”  In its 3,000-year history Istanbul has faced plagues and invasions. It is now bracing itself for this latest challenge. 
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Rising coronavirus infections aren’t only testing Europe’s national governments to their limits but also straining European Union solidarity with the governments of member states shrugging off pleas for greater coordination.  Instead, national governments have been paying little heed to Brussels and are pursuing their own ways of containing the virus and coping with the economic fallout, say diplomats and analysts. One after another, the governments of the 27 member states have ignored Brussels’ appeals to keep their borders open to each other, ending the bloc’s hallowed principle of freedom of movement, and they have been ignoring the bloc’s rules on state support for their domestic industries. While EU leaders have talked about the need for “more Europe,” national leaders have elected to follow the path of “less Europe,” say observers. “Logically, the coronavirus now ravaging parts of Italy and Spain and sweeping across the continent should be the ideal opportunity for the EU to move away from complacency and national individualism to solidarity and European integration. Instead, the pandemic, so far, has proven the opposite,” according to Judy Dempsey, an analyst at the Carnegie Europe research organization. Each member state’s government has adopted its own way of containing the virus, she says. “But this is not a European response. The pandemic has not generated a sense of solidarity among the member states or forced a reappraisal of the EU’s role in setting the agenda, even on something as fundamental as safeguarding the health system,” she adds. Rome’s Spanish Steps are seen empty as Italy tightens measures to try and contain the spread of coronavirus in Italy, March 24, 2020.Italian politicians have complained about the lack of solidarity. Mauirzo Massari, Italy’s representative to the EU, appealed for help. “Rome should not be left to handle this crisis alone.” “In addition to national measures, this is a crisis that requires a global and — first and foremost — a European response,” he wrote this month in an open letter in Politico Europe. But the early appeals for protective gear from neighbors for Italy’s overwhelmed health workers fell on deaf ears, a breach, Italians say, of the principle of European Union solidarity.  According to treaty law, member states are meant to act jointly to assist another to cope with “a natural or man-made disaster.” Instead, France and Germany imposed bans on the export of medical equipment they anticipated needing, although Berlin lifted the prohibition earlier this week. Massari says Rome “asked for supplies of medical equipment, and the European Commission forwarded the appeal to the member states, but it didn’t work.” Today, this means Italy; tomorrow, the need could be elsewhere. Italy, like some central European states, has turned for support to China, which has dispatched medical equipment and doctors. Italy’s Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio gives a press conference at the Foreign Press Association in Rome, Feb. 27, 2020.Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio has heaped praised on China, pointedly noting, “We are not alone, there are people in the world who want to help Italy.”  Other Europeans have found China more responsive than near neighbors. Aleksandar Vucic, president of Serbia, which has applied for EU membership, has highlighted Chinese assistance over the “fairy tale” of European solidarity. Nor have member states adopted a common approach to detecting and reporting coronavirus cases, with common guidelines for the entire bloc, critics complain. An almost empty road leads towards the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, March 24, 2020.With COVID-19 case numbers and deaths soaring — only Germany has shown early signs of managing to “flatten the curve” of confirmed infections — COVID-19 would seem to have torpedoed the logic of “more Europe,” according to The Economist magazine. “The EU evolved to deal with a post-modern world, where borders are blurred and markets ruled. Pandemics are a pre-modern problem, best solved by the tool that brought order to a brutish world: the modern state.” EU loyalists say the criticism leveled at Brussels is unfair. Health care systems are meant to be overseen by national governments and not the EU and Brussels has scant authority or power to act. Governments will always prioritize the health and well-being of their citizens. Critics say the breakdown of neighborliness has highlighted inherent flaws in the bloc and will leave a lasting imprint. Some Italian populist politicians say they doubt the Schengen open-border system will ever be fully restored — at least they hope it won’t. But while the virus has served mainly as a centrifugal force, the devastating economic fallout from the pandemic may well force EU member states closer together, say some analysts. The most Euro-skeptical states tend to be the weakest economically and as they struggle to right their economies, they will need their debts underwritten by the bloc as a whole — most especially by Germany. On March 18, the European Central Bank launched a $809 billion bond-buying program with strong French backing, although some richer member states were less enthusiastic. 
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At a time of isolation, people in many European cities hit hard by the new coronavirus are taking at least a minute each night to come together in gratitude.They stand at open windows or on balconies in Rome, Madrid, Paris, Athens and Amsterdam, singing, cheering and applauding even though they know their intended audience is too busy to listen.The adulation is for the doctors, nurses and other health care workers putting themselves at risk on the front lines of the pandemic that is forcing most residents to stay home. A 52-year-old nurse on Thursday became the first medical professional in Spain to die of COVID-19.People applaud from their houses in support of the medical staff in Rivas Vaciamadrid, March 14, 2020.In Italy, where the number of virus-related deaths surpassed those in China, 2,900 health care providers have been infected, or 10% of the country’s total. Italian broadcasters regularly feature exhausted doctors and nurses begging people to stay home and expressing a sense of abandonment over inadequate protective gear.The Dutch health minister collapsed from exhaustion in the midst of a parliamentary session on Wednesday.A man applauds from his window in support of the medical staff in Madrid, Spain, March 15, 2020.”We’re clapping tonight out of respect and to say thank you to all the health care workers in the Netherlands who are protecting us against this horrible coronavirus,” King Willem-Alexander said while observing the ritual Tuesday night with his family at Palace Huis ten Bosch in The Hague.The word spread mostly through the WhatsApp messaging service. In France, where the head of the national doctors’ federation picked up the virus from a diabetic patient, the call went out seemingly spontaneously by text messages hours after a nationwide lockdown went into effect Tuesday. Windows opened promptly at 8 p.m. then and again on Wednesday.Health workers react as people applaud them from their houses, Barcelona, Spain, March 16, 2020.”In this period of crisis, we are going to see the most beautiful things humanity has to offer, but also perhaps the darkest,” French Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said.In Brussels and other cities, the intended audience for the nightly chorus of thanks was expanded to everyone working to keep essential services running in Belgium, such as firefighters, supermarket workers and trash collectors.In Spain, people are singing Mónica Naranjo’s popular cover of the disco-era tune “I Will Survive” with the lyrics tweaked to say, “I will survive/I’ll look for a home/Among the rubble of my loneliness/Strange paradise/Where you are missed.”Parisians applaud the caregivers and police for their work, Paris, France, March 18, 2020.Workers at one hospital responded with a video recorded in the facility’s corridors. Standing in a small group and wearing masks, they held up one sign after another with messages that included, “We are all in this together.” Then, they gave a minute of applause for their home-bound admirers.
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