A passenger wearing a protective face mask, amid concerns about the COVID-19 outbreak, walks in Linate Airport in Milan, Italy on Sunday. Photo: AFP
By Sun Haoran
The government of Italy will deploy the country’s military to enforce the lockdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic, as the country’s death toll topped 4,000. Expert believes though the move is already delayed, it is the need of the hour for the government to enforce such a decision.
The President of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana, said Friday the central government had agreed to deploy the army in his region to enforce the lockdown in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, Reuters reported Friday.
“[The request to use the army] has been accepted… and 114 soldiers will be on the ground throughout Lombardy… it is still too little, but it is positive,” Fontana told a news conference.
“It is necessary and the government’s responsibility to use the army to carry out the lockdown order when Italy is facing the most severe situation due to the pandemic,” Zhang Shengjun, an international politics professor at Beijing Normal University, told the Global Times Saturday.
Zhang said Italy should have implemented such a strict measure by taking cues from China’s experience of pandemic prevention and control, at an earlier stage. “The lockdown was carried out thoroughly as the country loves partying and some people are still not fully aware of the seriousness of the COVID-19.”
Reuters added Lombardy has also asked the government to further tighten the restrictions already in place, which include the closure of all non-essential commercial activities and a ban on public gatherings.
On Thursday, a visiting Chinese Red Cross team criticized the collective failure of the Italians to properly quarantine themselves and seriously adhere to the nationwide lockdown, Time reported Thursday.
“Because China deployed the military to transport materials and medical personnel, and implemented strong measures to ensure the closure of Wuhan at the early stage of the pandemic, China has been able to successfully contain the virus domestically so far,” Zhang noted.
Italy has reported nearly 6,000 new infections with 627 new deaths on Friday, the biggest single-day surge in deaths and infections, as the total cases exceeded 47,000, official data showed Saturday.
Global Times
