Australian Desmond O’Grady is an author, playwright and journalist who for more than 50 years has lived in Italy where the coronavirus has killed more than 1000 people in Europe’s deadliest outbreak of the disease.

At the age of 90 he describes the threat of the virus to people his age and the inconvenience of harsh restrictions imposed by Italian authorities to combat it:

If the symptoms of coronavirus come I will be scared stiff.

That’s because some doctors have admitted that people like me, who also have other maladies, are being turned away and hospitals are accepting only those they have a chance of curing.

If the coronavirus does not arrive, life will continue for the three people and two dogs in my Rome apartment but it will be constrained because of government decrees which on Wednesday night became more severe than those two days before.

Yesterday I walked after lunch along the nearby Tiber River to Rome’s main soccer stadium. A friend said I was rash but in sunshine it seemed the invisible virus would not arrive. Cyclists, joggers and other walkers apparently agreed.

Australian and long-time Rome resident Desmond O’Grady is 90 and worried about coronavirus Credit: AAP

On the way back I passed through a square where late lunchers ate outside restaurants. Because of the new decree, my walk and their lunches are no longer allowed.

A fellow Rome resident, Australian painter Kevin Murray, rang to tell me of a similar experience. For years he has gone each morning to breakfast at a crowded coffee bar. Yesterday he found a queue outside – clients entered one at a time for their coffee and cornetto.

This virtuous innovation had a short life because now all restaurants and coffee bars have been closed. So have all sporting and other events which attract crowds.

A Supermarket customer wear protective mask at Viale Europa without traffic during the Coronavirus emergency, on March 13, 2020, in Rome, Italy. Credit: Antonio Masiello / Getty Images

There was an anticipation of this when Rome’s Foreign Press Club, which has roughly 300 members, held its annual meeting on Tuesday – only one member attended.

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Many commercial activities have been shut down except for supermarkets and other food outlets, pharmacies, post offices, banks, tobacconists, newspaper kiosks and factories and offices which observe the new health regulations, such an obligatory one-metre distance between workers.

Churches are open but masses, funeral and marriage services cannot be held there.

Some Catholics have criticised the Catholic Church for accepting these prohibitions. Pope Francis has been afflicted by coughs this past week and has cancelled public engagements.

A general view of Quirinale Palace empty and without tourists during the Coronavirus emergency, on March 12, 2020, in Rome, Italy. Credit: Antonio Masiello / Getty Images

The Vatican say he is not seriously ill as it usually does about popes until they die.

There is a reserve on hand for Pope Francis – his predecessor Benedict XVI, who resigned seven years ago but still signs his writings as Pope Emeritus.

A man prays in the Basilica dei Santi Pietro e Paolo during the Coronavirus emergency, on March 13, 2020, in Rome, Italy. Credit: Antonio Masiello / Getty Images

The two supermarkets which are within ten minutes walk for me are still well stocked. There have been no tussles over toilet paper although in Milan some supermarkets were almost emptied by clients buying as if for a siege.

What are in short supply in Rome are disinfectants for hand washing and protective masks for which there are black markets.

The government has issued a form to be carried by all who leave their homes. If stopped by police, they must complete the form and sign that they are on their way to work, seeking medical assistance or some other necessity, or on the way home. Lies can land them in prison.

Two ambulances at Piazza S. Giovanni in Laterano on March 13, 2020 in Rome, Italy. The Italian Government has taken the unprecedented measure of a nationwide lockdown in an effort to fight the world's second-most deadly coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak outside of China. Credit: Stefano Montesi - Corbis / Getty Images

There are not enough police to check on 60 million inhabitants in this way but it could be effective with air and train travellers.

Italians often treat government decrees as if they have come from the same people who have brought them an economic Pearl Harbour.

Play Video The brother of a woman who died at home after contracting coronavirus had to issue a desperate appeal on social media to persuade Italian authorities to come and collect her body. The brother of a woman who died at home after contracting coronavirus had to issue a desperate appeal on social media to persuade Italian authorities to come and collect her body.

But 87 per cent approve the severe health decree which is in force until March 25. Places where people congregated each night, such as Rome’s ‘left bank’ Trastevere district, were deserted immediately after it was announced.

But if the virus does not, as expected, pass its peak by March 25, there could be a reaction as foreshadowed by revolts in overcrowded prisons when visits of parents were curtailed to avoid contagion.

In the meantime, for the three people and two dogs here, it is imprisonment at home. Even my tennis club in the next street has closed. The only exercise is pressing computer keys.