Rescue package comes as police now patrol supermarkets in Sicily following a series of thefts

This article is more than 5 months old

This article is more than 5 months old

The Italian government has designated €400m (£358m) for food vouchers amid brewing social unrest as the country’s coronavirus lockdown takes its toll on the poor.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte made the announcement late on Saturday after reports emerged of people in the south running out of food and money. He said that €4.3bn would immediately be made available to mayors to help their citizens and another €400m would go towards an emergency food-relief fund.

“We know that many suffer, but the state is there,” Conte said.

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Italy is currently the EU country worst affected by coronavirus and its economy has been severely damaged. The governmentapproved a €25bn financial package earlier this month to safeguard the economy.

The entire country has been under lockdown for almost three weeks. The quarantine was due to end on 3 April, but will likely be extended.

Play Video 0:42 Food baskets for vulnerable lowered from balconies in Italy – video

Tension has been mounting on the island of Sicily in recent days, with police now patrolling supermarkets following a series of thefts. People have been running out of supermarkets without paying or pressuring small shop owners to give them free food, according to Italian media reports.

La Repubblica reported that one person shouted at cashiers in a supermarket in Palermo: “We have no money to pay, we have to eat.”

With income lost or businesses closed, many have been forced to turn to charities for help. “We have nothing to eat,” Carmela, a mother-of-three from Palermo, told La Stampa.

Citing recent data, La Stampa reported that 300,000 people across Sicily had been working off the books, among them carers, parking attendants and street vendors. “These must be added to the new poor,” the newspaper said. One young man who had been working off the books in a nightclub in Palermo was sleeping in his car, the newspaper added.

A fast-food delivery company said it was suspending deliveries in ZEN [Zona Espansione Nord], a deprived area in the outskirts of the Sicilian capital, after one of its riders was attacked and robbed on Saturday.

A video also emerged of a couple begging for a €50 advance outside a bank in Bari, Puglia, after their shop was forced to close due to the quarantine.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest A deserted street in Milan during the coronavirus lockdown. Italy has been in lockdown for nearly three weeks. Photograph: Paolo Salmoirago/EPA

Leoluca Orlando, the mayor of Palermo, warned that if something was not done to help the poor, the Mafia could exploit the situation.

“Discomfort and malaise are growing and we are recording worrying reports of protest and anger that is being exploited by criminals who want to destabilise the system,” he told told Sky News.

“The more time passes, the more resources are exhausted. The few savings people have are running out,” he added. “This tells us socio-economic issues will erupt.”

Pope Francis raised the alarm over the socioeconomic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic during a mass live-streamed on Saturday. “We begin to see people who are hungry, because they cannot work, they did not have a permanent job, and for many circumstances,” he said.