News
In coronavirus-hit Italy, life goes on for Lankans
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic continues to ravage Italy, home to one of Sri Lanka’s biggest expatriate communities, with the number of total recorded cases reaching 47,000 yesterday.
A man wearing a protective face mask and gloves crosses a road in Milan as the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues. Milan, Italy March 21, 2020. REUTERS/Daniele Mascolo
Lombardy remains the epicentre of the virus in Europe, with 22,264 reported cases and 2,549 deaths by Friday. The northern Italian region also houses the largest Sri Lankan community with many living in and around the province’s capital, Milan, and in Bergamo.
Italy recorded 627 deaths on Friday, the highest daily death toll reported so far, and 5,986 confirmed new cases. On the previous day, with 427 reported deaths, Italy’s death toll surpassed that of China, where the virus began. However, estimates and predictions here suggest the worst is yet to come, with the government warning the public that the peak was around two weeks away.
The nation-wide lockdown, imposed on March 9, has drastically changed the lives of people living here. Italians, who are used to starting their day with a morning coffee at their local bars (bars in Italy unlike bars in Sri Lanka, primarily serve coffee) can no longer do this. Piazzas that were bursting with people a little over two weeks ago now have an eerie silence. People can go out only for essential work and are required to carry a printable certificate from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, attesting their reason for stepping out and declaring they have no noticeable symptoms of the virus. Loitering is strictly punishable with fines up to 206 euros, and possible prison sentence if those caught are aware that they carry the virus.
Pisa, a city with a large international student population who routinely hang out in piazzas, pubs and clubs in the weekend, is almost deserted. A few people jog or walk their dogs. After Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte reassured the public that supermarkets would remain well stocked, the panic buying frenzy wreaking havoc in other countries hasn’t been much of an issue here. However, for safety reasons, only a limited number of people are allowed inside at a time and people outside must maintain a two-metre distance in the queue that stretches down the road. Disposable gloves are provided inside.
People have resorted to singing and playing music from their balconies, with the national anthem and other patriotic songs being the most popular, to cope with the boredom and boost the public morale. Even before the total lockdown and closure of most public places, celebrities took to their social media, posting photos and videos from home using the hashtag #iorestoacasa (I am staying at home), to encourage the youth, who initially ignored government advice, to do the same.
In nearby Lucca, an ancient city in Tuscany with a large Sri Lankan community, Vibuthi Dilshan, a 22-year-old student at the University of Pisa, says the new conditions have changed his daily routine. Instead of his morning coffee and occasional evening pizza outside, he now stays at home following online lectures. His Sri Lankan housemate, who works at a mini market, goes to work early and returns before dusk. Vibuthi’s family lives in the southern island of Ischia off the coast of Naples.
“My mother wanted me to come home when the cases in Lombardy began to increase, but I didn’t want to go at the time, he says. “My lessons at the university were starting on the second of March and I decided to stay back, and later it became risky to travel.”
He says he has no issue in supermarkets as they are well stocked, and prices have not gone up. But since he lives in the centre of Lucca, police patrolling the streets occasionally stop and question. “However, I wasn’t able to buy face masks and hand sanitizers. They are sold out in all pharmacies I checked at,” he says.
Sujeewa De Alwis, a fifty-five-year-old post office driver in Milan, says he continues to operate on the road, as his job is deemed essential. “I start my routine early morning with the government permit and drive up north collecting packages and parcels from five offices and return home by three in the afternoon after delivering them at eight offices on my way back,” he says. His journey takes him along the picturesque drive by the famous Lake Como up to the Swiss border that is now shut.
He lives in the Lotto district close to the San Siro football stadium with his wife and two sons. There are many Sri Lankans in the area. Most of his extended family lives in the same neighbourhood and do a variety of jobs from masonry and factory jobs, to domestic caregiving and jobs at restaurants. The people who work at restaurants are temporarily unemployed. “Those who worked as part-time caregivers are without jobs because of fears that they may put the elderly people at risk, but those who work full-time and live in the house of the person requiring care, continue to work,” he adds.
Despite some Sri Lankans from Lombardy fleeing to Sri Lanka when the region was put under lockdown, he says that most Sri Lankans he knows chose to remain. “We live with our families here, so it doesn’t make sense for us to leave, and the lockdown isn’t as bad as people think and it isn’t like the curfews imposed in Sri Lanka.”
Forty-three-year-old Feroze, who runs a mini-market selling Sri Lankan, South-East Asian and South American products, says that despite constrains on his supply, he manages to operate, and people visit his shop.
“Most of the people come in the morning and I close my shop by 8 pm,” he says. “I then go to the supermarket by eight-thirty when there isn’t much of a crowd, to buy the essentials like pasta, but I also take home food items like rice and dhal from my shop, but my supplies coming in from Sri Lanka have been affected,” he remarks.
With the situation worsening, the lockdown, which is in effect until April 3, is likely to be extended, as the nation’s economy continues to crumble and the deaths soar.