Southern Italy's first case of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was detected in the Sicilian city of Palermo, the ANSA news agency reported on Tuesday
ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 25th February, 2020) Southern Italy's first case of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was detected in the Sicilian city of Palermo, the ANSA news agency reported on Tuesday.
According to ANSA, a female tourist visiting Sicily from the northern Italian city of Bergamo tested positive for the virus after being hospitalized with flu symptoms.
Everyone that the patient may have been in contact with has been placed under quarantine, the news agency reported, citing the local authorities.
Later in the day, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte accused one of the hospitals on the country's north of non-compliance with an established protocol that led to the disease outbreak in the country.
"We do not behave thoughtlessly, otherwise we would not have taken extreme measures. We cannot predict the spread of the virus. It is clear that there was an outbreak, and, moreover, it was revealed that at the hospital structure's level, the control did not comply with protocols adopted in such cases. This definitely helped the spread," Conte told the Rai 1 broadcaster.
The prime minister also called on other states to ensure the right to the unrestricted movement of all Italians despite the epidemic after several countries cautioned their citizens against making trips to the Apennines.
Meanwhile, the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy has triggered spikes in prices for protective masks and disinfecting gels, a spokesman for the Italian consumer protection group Codacons, Stefano Zerbi, told Sputnik, adding that cases of price gouging were being investigated by prosecutors and police.
"We are dealing with pure gouging due to the fears of citizens. These people benefit from the fear of infection: if previously one mask had cost a few euro cents, now the price reaches five or six Euros [$5.4-6.5] per piece," Zerbi added.
Cases of the new coronavirus in Italy now numbering more than 270 were previously confirmed only in the northern and central Italian regions, including Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Trentino-Alto Adige/South Tyrol, Piedmont, Tuscany and Lazio. Italy has confirmed that seven people have died from coronavirus-related complications in the country.
