Italy

ROME, Nov 16 (NNN-AGENCIES) – COVID-19 may have been circulating in Italy since Sept, 2019, three months before it first emerged in China, according to a study released by the National Cancer Institute (INT).

If true, it would mean that the virus was present in Italy three months before it was first reported in China in Dec, 2019, and five months before the first official case was recorded in Italy on Feb 21, 2019.

MILAN (AP) — Dr. Luca Cabrini was certain his hospital in the heart of Lombardy‘s lake district would reach its breaking point caring for 300 COVID-19 patients. So far, virus patients fill 500 beds and counting.

Italy, which shocked the world and itself when hospitals in the wealthy north were overwhelmed with coronavirus cases last spring, is again facing a systemic crisis, as confirmed positives pass the symbolic threshold of 1 million.

ROME, Nov 8 (NNN-AGENCIES) – The Italian government announced, it issued a new decree, increasing aid to families and businesses stricken by the latest anti-COVID-19 restrictions.

On Nov 4, the government imposed a nationwide curfew, between 10.00 p.m. and 5.00 a.m., as the pandemic surged in Italy.

It also shut down shopping malls on weekends and holidays, curtailed the operating hours of bars and restaurants to 5.00 a.m.-6.00 p.m., and shut down museums, theatres, concert, theatres, and betting venues.

ROME (AP) — Four Italian regions are being put under “red-zone” lockdown, with severe limits imposed on the circumstances under which people can leave home, Premier Giuseppe Conte announced on Wednesday night.

What he called “very stringent” restrictions begin on Friday for Lombardy, Piedmont and Valle d’Aosta in the north, and for Calabria, which forms the southern toe of the Italian peninsula.

ROME, Oct. 28 (Xinhua) -- The chief of Italy China Chamber of Commerce (CICC) said on Wednesday that it is essential for Italian companies that wish to do business in China to attend the China International Import Expo (CIIE) trade fair.

The comment by CICC Secretary General Marco Bettin came during a webinar on opportunities for Italian businesses in China held by the Banca Popolare di Sondrio, an Italian bank based in the northern Lombardy region.

ROME (AP) — Italy’s leader imposed at least a month of new restrictions across the country on Sunday to fight rising coronavirus infections, insisting that people outdoors wear masks, shutting down gyms, pools and movie theaters and putting an early curfew on cafes and restaurants.

Worried about crippling Italy’s stagnant economy, especially after 10 weeks of a severe lockdown earlier in the pandemic, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte ruled against another heavy nationwide lockdown.

ROME (Reuters) - Italy is considering extending beyond the current year-end deadline the special powers it has to block attempts by European suitors to acquire Italian companies in strategic sectors, including banks and insurers, government sources said.

The government in April strengthened existing anti-takeover powers in the financial, credit, insurance, energy, defence, telecommunications, transport, water, health, semiconductors and cybersecurity industries.

ROME, Oct 21 (NNN-XINHUA) – The European Union (EU) recovery fund should kick off as soon as Jan, to provide the necessary relief to European economies hit by the COVID-19 crisis, Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, urged yesterday.

“In the European Council a few days ago, we restated our expectation that the Next Generation EU programme, as well as, the Multiannual Financial Framework, could start by Jan 1, 2021,” Conte told a press conference after meeting his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez.

United Nations, Oct 17 (AP/PTI) The head of the World Food Program, this year's winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, again urged billionaires to donate just a few billion to save millions of lives, saying Friday the number of people marching toward starvation has jumped from 135 million to 270 million since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Humanity needs the help right now, David Beasley said. This is a one-time request. ... The world is at a crossroads, and we need from the billionaires to step up in a way they've never stepped up before.

MILAN (Reuters) - It is important not to withdraw too early the policies put in place by governments and central banks to counter the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, European Central Bank Governing Council member Ignazio Visco said on Friday.

Visco, who is also the governor of the Bank of Italy, told Bloomberg Television the economy would not return to the situation pre-dating the virus crisis for another couple of years.