Coffins fill up Italy's churches and halls (PHOTOS)
The Italian Army has been brought in to ferry coffins out of Bergamo, Northern Italy, as its morgue and its crematorium struggle to cope with the surge in fatalities from the coronavirus pandemic.
Harrowing photos from the town show officers wearing protective hazmat suits as they work to store bodies in churches and halls.
It comes as Italy's Prime Minister today warned the European Union could 'lose its purpose' if it fails to respond strongly to coronavirus - after the country saw its worst spike in deaths to date.
Giuseppe Conte gave the stark statement as grim statistics revealed 969 more deaths yesterday, bringing the total to 9,134, up 11.9 percent.
Conte aired his grievances after the 27 EU leaders could not agree on an action plan during an argumentative six-hour video conference Thursday and gave their finance ministers two more weeks to forge a policy that could please Italy and Spain.
The two countries hardest-hit by the pandemic blocked Thursday's statement because it did not go far enough.
The crux of the argument is about the extent to which the EU - facing what Italy views as an existential threat - should abandon its policy of keeping within tight budget constraints.
The bloc has already untied its purse strings in ways not seen since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.
Rome and Madrid want the EU to start issuing 'corona bonds' - a form of common debt that governments sell on markets to raise money and address individual economic needs.
More spendthrift nations such as Germany and the Netherlands are balking at the idea of joint debt.
Conte said he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had 'not just a disagreement but a hard a frank confrontation' Thursday about how to proceed.
'If Europe does not rise to this unprecedented challenge, the whole European structure loses its raison d'etre (reason for existing) to the people,' Conte told the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper.
The entire eurozone is expected to slip into a recession over the coming months.
But Italy is facing the threat of a near economic collapse after being the first European country to shutter almost all its businesses on March 12.
Some forecasts suggests that its economy - now the third-largest among nations that use the euro common currency - could contract by as much as seven percent this year.
Italy's world-leading death toll is on course to eclipse 10,000 this weekend and its painful shutdown of businesses and many factories could last for months.
The country's COVID-19 contagion rates are slowing but deaths are still being recorded at frightening rates.
Italy set a new global record by registering more than 900 deaths on Friday - and 1,600 in just two days.
But a growing number of medics are warning that its fatalities could be much higher because retirement homes often do not report all their COVID-19 deaths.
The number of people who have died from the new disease at home is unknown.
'This is something very different from the 2008 crisis,' Conte said. 'We are at a critical point in European history.'
Harrowing photos from the town show officers wearing protective hazmat suits as they work to store bodies in churches and halls.
It comes as Italy's Prime Minister today warned the European Union could 'lose its purpose' if it fails to respond strongly to coronavirus - after the country saw its worst spike in deaths to date.
Giuseppe Conte gave the stark statement as grim statistics revealed 969 more deaths yesterday, bringing the total to 9,134, up 11.9 percent.
Conte aired his grievances after the 27 EU leaders could not agree on an action plan during an argumentative six-hour video conference Thursday and gave their finance ministers two more weeks to forge a policy that could please Italy and Spain.
The two countries hardest-hit by the pandemic blocked Thursday's statement because it did not go far enough.
The crux of the argument is about the extent to which the EU - facing what Italy views as an existential threat - should abandon its policy of keeping within tight budget constraints.
The bloc has already untied its purse strings in ways not seen since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.
Rome and Madrid want the EU to start issuing 'corona bonds' - a form of common debt that governments sell on markets to raise money and address individual economic needs.
More spendthrift nations such as Germany and the Netherlands are balking at the idea of joint debt.Conte said he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had 'not just a disagreement but a hard a frank confrontation' Thursday about how to proceed.
'If Europe does not rise to this unprecedented challenge, the whole European structure loses its raison d'etre (reason for existing) to the people,' Conte told the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper.
The entire eurozone is expected to slip into a recession over the coming months.
But Italy is facing the threat of a near economic collapse after being the first European country to shutter almost all its businesses on March 12.
Some forecasts suggests that its economy - now the third-largest among nations that use the euro common currency - could contract by as much as seven percent this year.
Italy's world-leading death toll is on course to eclipse 10,000 this weekend and its painful shutdown of businesses and many factories could last for months.
The country's COVID-19 contagion rates are slowing but deaths are still being recorded at frightening rates.
Italy set a new global record by registering more than 900 deaths on Friday - and 1,600 in just two days.
But a growing number of medics are warning that its fatalities could be much higher because retirement homes often do not report all their COVID-19 deaths.
The number of people who have died from the new disease at home is unknown.
'This is something very different from the 2008 crisis,' Conte said. 'We are at a critical point in European history.'
Comments
Post a Comment
WETIN YOU THINK? Talk Your Mind here