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Italians defy coronavirus with mass singing, applause for doctors

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Italians came out on Saturday to sing together from windows and balconies and applaud their hard-pressed doctors and nurses as the death toll from Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak kept climbing.

The government has imposed an unprecedented series of controls since the virus emerged in northern Italy on February 21, banning public gatherings, forbidding all but essential travel and telling people to stay at home.

Schools, restaurants and most shops have been closed but the government has allowed companies to keep operating and has promised tax breaks and other support to help businesses deal with a collapse in orders.

But as the death toll rose to 1,441 with 21.157 cases, the highest in the world outside China, there has been widespread acceptance of the measures.

At midday on Saturday, people across the country applauded the doctors and nurses at the front line of the crisis from their balconies. In the evening, mass singalongs of “Azzurro”, a song by Adriano Celentano, one of Italy’s most popular singers, rang out from apartment blocks.

Fueled by social media, handpainted banners proclaiming “Andra tutto bene” (“Everything will be alright”) and “io resto a casa” (“I’m staying at home”) also appeared hanging from windows and balconies in several cities.

Officials said the health system in the worst affected regions in the north was holding up but was under strain of a kind not seen in Europe since World War Two.

 

 

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