Italians are told to stand one metre away from each other in all public spaces in bid to stop coronavirus spreading
The one-metre rule will also apply in pubs, shops and churches in the country
Rule based on how far saliva drops travel when released into air as people talk
Other measures by Italy’s health authorities include a ban on public gatherings
Italy has now recorded 2,036 cases and 52 deaths – the worst outbreak in Europe
By AMELIA WYNNE
DAILYMAIL.COM
3 March 2020
Italians have been told to stand one metre away from each other in all public spaces in a bid to stop coronavirus spreading.
The death toll in Italy jumped to 52 yesterday from 34 the day before and the total number of confirmed cases in Europe’s worst affected country climbed to 2,036.
The one-metre rule will also apply to pubs, shops and churches and is based on a study of how far saliva droplets can travel when they are released into the air as people talk, The Times have reported.
Other measures by Italy’s health authorities include a ban on public gatherings and school closures in the north.
The three worst-hit regions – Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna – have extended the closure of schools for another week.
Ten per cent of virus patients in Italy were in intensive care with respiratory problems, the health chief of the Lombardy region in northern Italy has said.
He added that they were almost exclusively over 65 years old and asked all elderly people in the region to leave home as little as possible for the next two weeks.
Giovanni Rezza, the head of the infectious diseases department at the national health institute, said that schools were a key area to keep control of.
‘Not because children are vulnerable — they don’t suffer as much as adults — but they can transmit it to parents and grandparents,’ he said.
The Rest…HERE
