In an interview with FRANCE 24, Fabrizio Sala, the vice president of Italy's Lombardy region, discussed the deadly coronavirus outbreak in his region, the epicentre of the pandemic in Italy. He sounded an optimistic note, saying "we have less people in our hospitals than other days" and said he was considering a partial resumption of economic activity "after April".
In Italy, more than 10,000 people have died from Covid-19 and more than half of the victims were in Lombardy. "More than 6,000 people have died," Fabrizio Sala, the vice president of Italy's northern Lombardy region, told FRANCE 24. "Around 40,000 people are now infected" by the virus in the region, he added.
Northern Italy is one of the epicentres of the Covid-19 pandemic and authorities there decided to close schools, bars and other public places in a string of towns back on February 21. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte later placed the whole country on lockdown on March 9 in a bid to limit the spread of the coronavirus, with only essential businesses remaining open.
Sala believes the lockdown measures are bearing fruit. "The growth of the virus is slowing down," he told FRANCE 24’s Marc Perelman. "We have less people in our hospitals than other days. So in the future the situation is positive."
Sala also said he was mulling a "very slow" reopening of the economy "after April". "We are studying how to open because we will be able to open only (with) some kind of people, and only some kind of jobs and so on," he explained.
>> Italy coronavirus death toll tops 10,000 despite lockdown
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