pandemic
“Patient No. 1”: Two years of Corona in Italy
The Italian region of Lombardy was hit particularly hard at the beginning of the corona pandemic. (Archive image) Photo: Claudio Furlan/LaPresse/AP/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
For many people there is a new division of time into “before” and “since” Corona. It all started in Italy exactly two years ago – and had devastating consequences.
The corona pandemic arrived in Europe two years ago – and initially hit northern Italy in particular. On February 20, 2020, “Patient No. 1” was diagnosed with Covid-19 in Codogno, Lombardy, although he had never been to China.
A little later, millions of Italians were in a tough lockdown – the first in Europe. In a newspaper interview, Health Minister Roberto Speranza recalled the report of the first Corona case: “I’m sitting in front of the television and watching (the football match) Rome vs. Ghent. I remember everything: one to zero for us (…). The phone rings, it’s the Lombardy Health Council. He says: There is the first case in Codogno,” he told the newspaper “La Repubblica”. “In my life there is a before and an after this phone call.”
The West’s hope that Covid could be stopped was shattered at that moment. A little later, Italy complained about the first corona death, today there are around 153,000 victims in the Mediterranean country alone.
Most recently, Mario Draghi’s government further relaxed the corona measures, but Speranza gave no hope of an end to the pandemic in “La Repubblica”: “I can’t see the moment X when the virus no longer exists, and we abolish all instruments of containment».
The state of emergency is still in force in Italy and will expire on March 31. It is unclear whether it will be extended. In Italy, a so-called Green Pass is required to go to restaurants, for example. In Germany, this corresponds to the 3G regulation. Vaccination is also compulsory for people over 50 years of age.