Novel coronavirus: Italy declares state of emergency, 1st cases confirmed

By NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews

The Italy Ministry of Health declared a state of health emergency today (computer translated) over the novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV).

The decision, made by the Council of Ministers, was made immediately after WHO declared the public health emergency of international concern Thursday.

“In light of the WHO international emergency declaration, we have activated the precautionary regulatory instruments provided in our country in these cases, as already happened in 2003 on the occasion of the SARS infection”, according to Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza.

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“On the New coronavirus – underlined Speranza – we want to give a message of absolute serenity. The National Health Service is very strong, we have chosen from the beginning to have a level of attention which is the highest in Europe. Right now we are the only country that has broken off connections with China, WHO has publicly acknowledged that we are the ones with the highest level of vigilance and safeguarding people. ”

On Thursday, Italy reported the first two confirmed cases of infection in two Chinese tourists, currently hospitalized at the Lazzaro Spallanzani reference center in Rome in isolation.

After the cases confirmed in Italy on 30 January, the Italian government has deemed it appropriate to terminate the connections with China.



