Up to April 3rd, travel to/from Lombardy (provinces of Milan, Monza, Bergamo, Brescia, Cremona, Sondrio, Varese, Como, Lecco, Lodi) and the mostly adjoining provinces of Parma, Piacenza, Rimini, Reggio Emilia, Modena, Pesaro e Urbino, Venice, Treviso, Alessandria, Asti, is allowed only for urgent reasons that cannot be deferred. Effective from tomorrow.
Link (in Italian):
Museums, gymnasiums, swimming pools, and discotheques are closed. Innbars and restaurants, patrons must stay one meter apart.
It is unclear from Google translate (my Italian is minimal) whether this is just a "recommendation" or whether they are doing roadblocks and cancelling trains?
Tonight's Swiss TV news (Saturday) reported cross-border trains from Italy were being disinfected, but otherwise did not mention any other restrictions. The map in the article you posted includes the provinces that border Switzerland.
News video of train disinfection: https://www.srf.ch/play/tv/srf-news/video/so-desinfiziert-die-rhaetische-bahn-ihre-zuege?id=4861ca93-fd66-446d-9cdb-b3ca523724c5
According to other sources that I'm reading, this is an order and not a recommendation and that an official announcement will be made in Rome tonight.
You understand this is an unprecedented thing not only in Italy but in all Western democracies. How it will be implemented is anybody's guess. For example, I believe that some degree of liberty in freight movements has to be left, as some supermarket chains have their warehouses near Milan and you risk leaving shops unstocked in the rest of Italy. I would expect some checks, probably not inflexible, but tourism is out of question for now.
I also read that cases surged to 5,883 with 233 deaths. Apparently they are calling up 20,000 doctors, nurses and medical personnel to help with the outbreak. Hoping for the best.
I have relatives in Italy living in the quarantine areas.
They are well.
Italy is bringing doctors out of retirement which is sad since the disease is primarily killing those above 65. The president of Emilia Romagna has asked for further clarification. The original release was a "draft" without confirmation from Rome. While that happened many milanesi decided to flea and go south. There will be no entering or exiting of the red zone. In Codogno they had road blocks and extra police to help control but a few ***** left to ski etc and thus spread the risk. Limitations on grocery stores also. The medical system is on the verge of collapse and they are talking about having to choose who to give treatment to.... those that are younger have a better chance of recovery. Nothing is good about this situation. From Vignola in Modena
It would be smart to pull doctors out of retirement to work with people NOT afflicted with corona or flu symptoms -- somebody needs to treat those broken legs, diabetes, heart disease etc --- this would free younger doctors to deal with Corona.
Dear All, I have been reading the Swiss online media today. There seams to be a lot of confusion around what this measure exactly entails.
Auch am Sonntag verkehren die Schnellzüge zwischen Mailand, Venedig und Rom regulär, Flugzeuge starten und landen in Linate und Malpensa.
"The express trains between Milan, Venice an Rome were also running normally on Sunday. Planes were landing and taking of at Malpensa and Linate (Milan's airports)"
SBB (Swiss Railways) are saying their trains to Italy are running normally. The Centovalli line says theirs are not (Here: https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/switzerland/centovalli-trains-suspended-until-further-notice )
Confused? Wait until Monday morning to see if people are still commuting.
A big question is what happens to tourist and to being able to depart by air from airports like MXP. Are in-country tourist trapped until 02 April (or longer)?
A big question is what happens to tourist and to being able to depart by air from airports like MXP. Are in-country tourist trapped until 02 April (or longer)?
The airports and most railways services are operating normally.
Good to know that air and train services are not locked down.
If a tourist is in a Milan hotel would they be allowed to leave Milan to fly out of MXP?
Or if a tourist were in an area outside the lockdown region, e.g. the Aosta Valley region, would they be allowed to transit through Lombardy/Milan to depart from MXP?
If a tourist is in a Milan hotel would they be allowed to leave Milan to fly out of MXP?
Or if a tourist were in an area outside the lockdown region, e.g. the Aosta Valley region, would they be allowed to transit through Lombardy/Milan to depart from MXP?
Edgar, your guess is as good as mine. This appears to be a "quarantine light": Pretty please stay at home, but we aren't actually doing anything to enforce a quarantine.
This map shows the "lockdown" area (grey): https://www.srf.ch/static/cms/images/960w/39ff97.jpg
It is actually three separate areas. It would take the whole Italian army to block all routes in and out of that.
According to Swiss TV, the Italian/Swiss border is remaining open for commuters: https://www.srf.ch/news/schweiz/coronavirus-aktuelle-lage-grenze-zu-italien-bleibt-fuer-grenzgaenger-offen
"Italy's foreign minister Luigi Di Maio has confirmed that the border between Italy and Switzerland remains open for all commuters. . . . . All employed persons can continue to move about in order to get to their jobs, equally between the Italian regions and Switzerland and Italy."
Strange kind of quarantine.
This is terrible to see. Italy has now passed S Korea ( and Iran, which was passed yesterday) in total number of cases.
Pickpockets no longer a problem in Italy... :)
As of this morning, I read all restaurant must close by 6:00pm!
Yes, they have extended the quarantine to the entire country — reports are there will be police /carabinieri along autoroutes checking if people have the certifications that allow them to circulate . If not, they risk jail and/or fines.
