In northern Italy thousands of medical staff are getting sick fighting the coronavirus pandemic and dozens have died - but far to the south, they have had time to prepare.

At Cotugno Hospital, a specialist infectious diseases facility that now only treats COVID-19 patients, armed guards patrol the corridors.

As we walked inside we passed disinfection machines that look like airport scanners, but they clean you down.

A hospital in Naples is well equipped and prepared to fight coronavirus.

While the speed of the virus storm caught everyone by surprise in the north, and medical teams were overwhelmed, things at this hospital were different.

We were taken, fully clothed in our protective layers and goggles, into one of their Intensive Care Units (ICU).


19 March: The shocking centre of the COVID-19 crisis

This was a whole different level to anything we have seen before.

The staff treating the sickest patients are wearing super advanced masks - much nearer to a gas mask than we normally see our hospital staff wearing.

They are clad in thick waterproof suits that means the doctors and nurses are effectively sealed in.

Incredibly, so far at least, not a single member of the medical teams has been affected - it seems it can be done, you just have to have the right gear and follow the right protocols.

We sensed a sudden change. A nurse rushed past us desperately drawing medicine in to a syringe. A patient inside one of the treatment rooms is deteriorating fast.

Image: High containment ambulances at the Cotugno Hospital in Naples. Pic: Salvatore Laporta/IPA/Shutterstock

As we watched on, he prepared an injection outside the treatment room.

He never goes inside but communicated through a window to colleagues with the patient. They never come outside during crisis moments, and this is one.

When it's ready, the medicine is passed through a compartment door.

Remember, he's not been inside and hasn't touched anyone or anything - but he immediately removes his gloves and scrubs down. This attention to detail is an absolute constant.

This hospital is the exception in the south of the country. It was already the most advanced, but we began to realise that keeping the medical teams safe is possible.

What they're noticing is that everyone and anyone can get infected, not just the old.

There are many young patients being treated here and interestingly they are finding that the middle classes are being infected the most.

I asked why? The answer is obvious really - they travel.

What is really striking here is that the rules of separating infected environments and the clean areas are followed by everyone.

But armed security guards are on every connecting corridor in case anyone forgets.

Image: The staff treating the sickest patients wear super advanced masks

We're moved back and the corridors locked down as a new patient is brought in. This happens every time as preparation is the key to stopping the virus.

"This is the first thing to do in this kind of hospital," the head of respiratory medicine, Dr Roberto Parrella, told me as more patients were wheeled past.

"It's very, very important to separate the street [corridor] and so on, to organise how [to] dress and undress, how [to] put a doctor or nurse in the room, how [to] put your mask on right, it's very important."

I asked him if having the right equipment is equally important.

"Yes, we fight for, fight for [it], however now we have," he said.

We are shown into the sub-intensive care unit where the patients are either recovering or haven't deteriorated yet, but the same separation rules as the ICU apply. A red and white tape marks the line that can't be crossed.

Clean area nurses and doctors assist infected area staff across the line. They keep the two absolutely separate.

That separation is the key. It's a separation the doctors here acknowledge was almost impossible for doctors and nurses in the north to observe because the tide of patients arriving was so great.

:: Listen to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Spreaker

The medical staff constantly refer to the "tsunami" everywhere we go.

Two of the wards are run by Dr Giuseppe Fiorentino. He is absolutely in control of the staff as they work gruelling hours to contain the spread of the virus.

He walked me through the wards explaining how they treat the patients. The advantage all the staff here have over their colleagues around the country is that they are used to dealing with very serious diseases like HIV/Aids and tuberculosis.

He explains the measures they are following for COVID-19 is second nature to them. That knowledge has protected his staff.

20 March: Sky visits Cremona Hospital in Lombardy where staff face a fight to save every patient

There is a higher number of infections in the doctors in the north, he told me, because they couldn't keep the separation lines working. He isn't blaming them, it's just a fact.

"In this hospital not one," he said.

He knew that I had been to the most badly affected hospitals in Italy, particularly the hospitals in Lombardy, and was desperate to know what it was like.

I got the sense that the pictures we showed on Sky News and distributed around the world were every doctor's nightmare.

As the pandemic spreads, we are seeing the number of infected and dying jump every day.

Health workers are right on the frontline and they're succumbing to the illness too.

Perhaps, though, it doesn't have to be inevitable. It isn't here, but they have the kit, they don't just hope for the best.