Rome: Italy braced Thursday for an extended lockdown that could see the economy suffer its biggest shock since World War II from a pandemic that has killed almost as many people as it has in China.
The country’s toll from the novel coronavirus reached 2,978 after it recorded 475 new deaths on Wednesday — the highest official one-day figure in the world.
China reported no new local infections for the first time on Thursday, while Italy was on course to overtake its 3,245 fatalities later in the day.
The number of new COVID-19 cases is yet to plateau despite the Italian government’s best efforts.
Screengrab: ANI 
People walk across Piazza Castello in Turin on March 9, 2020, as Italy is battling the world’s second-most deadly virus outbreak after China and has imposed a virtual lockdown on the north of the country. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) A picture taken on March 8, 2020 shows a desert San Marco square in Venice on March 8, 2020. – A quarter of the Italian population was locked down on March 8, 2020 as the government takes drastic steps to stop the spread of the deadly new coronavirus that is sweeping the globe, with Latin America recording its first fatality. (Photo by ANDREA PATTARO / AFP) Customers order drinks at a deserted cafe terrace on March 9, 2020 on Piazza Vittorio in Turin, as Italy is battling the world’s second-most deadly virus outbreak after China and has imposed a virtual lockdown on the north of the country. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) A child plays with a football on March 9, 2020 on Piazza Castello in Turin, as Italy is battling the world’s second-most deadly virus outbreak after China and has imposed a virtual lockdown on the north of the country. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) People walk by Palazzo Reale in Turin on March 9, 2020, as Italy is battling the world’s second-most deadly virus outbreak after China and has imposed a virtual lockdown on the north of the country. (Photo by Marco BERTORELLO / AFP) Visitors stand by an entrance of the Colosseum monument in Rome after it was closed along with some of the city’s other landmarks and museums after the Italian government took drastic steps to stop the spread of the deadly coronavirus COVID-19 sweeping the globe, on March 8, 2020. (Photo by Laurent EMMANUEL / AFP)
Army trucks delivered new coffins Thursday to a cemetery in the northern Italian city of Bergamo that suddenly finds itself at the global heart of the unfolding disaster.
Burials were taking place 30 minutes apart to avoid contagion through crowds.
Masked undertakers wrapped from head to toe in white suits carted the coffins on gurneys to speed up the process.
Italy‘s ANSA news agency said the deaths of two more doctors in the nearby town of Como west of Bergamo on Thursday brought the total number of medics killed by the new disease to 13.
“Use your common sense and act with utmost caution,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told Italians.
“We are not underestimating anything and always acting based on the worst-case scenario.”
– Overwhelming support –
Conte enjoys overwhelming support from Italians for a lockdown that — while not as draconian as China’s quarantine of Wuhan’s Hubei province — seemed unimaginable for a Western democracy until this month.
A poll published in the daily La Repubblica found that 47 percent viewed the closure of most businesses and all shools and public institutions “positively”.
Another 47 percent viewed them “very positively” and just four percent said they were opposed.
Some of Conte’s strictest measures — such as the closure of all shops except for grocery stores and pharmacies — had been due to expire next Wednesday.
The Italian leader was adamant that an extension of all these precautions was inevitable.
He said no new restrictions were being considered but warned: “If our prohibitions are not respected, we will have to act.”
Schools are thus unlikely to reopen on April 3 and working parents will have to find ways to look after their children while working from home for many more weeks or months.
– Economic shock –
Italy is imposing 206 euro ($222) fines for anyone found wandering the streets without a valid excuse such as grocery shopping or getting to and from work.
Police in Rome repeat periodic instructions out of megaphones for everyone to “stay home and maintain distance” from each other.
Some stores are ordering shoppers to put on disposable plastic gloves.
The northern region of Emilia-Romagna took the extra step late Wednesday of banning jogging and walks — exercise that the national government in Rome had encouraged for health reasons.
As a result, people in and around Bologna can only cycle or walk to get to work or shop.
In response to the monumental toll that all these measures are taking on the economy, Conte’s team put together a 25 billion euro package designed to help the worst affected industries.
The tourism operators’ union said Thursday it expected the number of visitors to drop to levels last seen in the mid-1960s.
But Conte looked for the silver lining in the disaster.
The crisis has forced ministers to “make the biggest effort in dozens of years to simplify the investment process — something that nobody (in Italy) has ever done,” Conte said.