Coronavirus: Italy’s south a powder keg as cases soar past 100,000
- Police deployed on the streets against threat of looting and riots
- Officials fear mafia preparing to step in as nation struggles under lockdown
As Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte fights to hold Italian society together through a crippling nationwide lockdown, the depressed south is turning into a powder keg.
Police have been deployed on the streets of Sicily’s capital, Palermo, amid reports gangs are using social media to plot attacks on stores. A bankrupt ferry company halted service to the island, including vital supplies of food and medicines. As the state creaks under the strain of the coronavirus pandemic, officials worry the mafia may be preparing to step in.
Italy’s health minister Roberto Speranza said on Monday that a national lockdown would be prolonged “at least until Easter”, despite some signs of a slowing novel coronavirus contagion.
The Civil Protection Agency said active cases, excluding deaths and recoveries, had risen by 1,648 to 75,528 – the smallest daily variation since March 10. However, overall infections, including deaths and recoveries, soared above 100,000 to 101,739, and 812 more people died, bringing the total death toll to 11,591 – the most in the world.
Preventing unrest in the so-called Mezzogiorno, the underdeveloped southern region that has long lagged behind the wealthy north, has become the government’s top priority, according to Italian officials who asked not to be named discussing the administration’s strategy.