A business owner has handcuffed himself to his bar and gone on hunger strike in protest of the lockdown in Italy‘s ‘red zones’.
Nico Drago, 55, who runs Caffe Piazzi in Crocetta, Turin, has pitched up a tent in front of his premises to sleep in at night.
The bartender, who has not eaten since yesterday, objects against his bar’s temporary closure after new coronavirus restrictions came into effect on March 15.
Schools, restaurants, shops and museums have closed in 13 of the country’s 20 ‘red zone’ regions, with people unable to leave their homes except for work, health or other essential reasons.
Italy reported 481 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday against 501 the day before, the health ministry said, while the daily tally of new infections decreased to 21,932 from 23,649.
Nico Drago, 55, owner of Caffe Piazzi in Crocetta, Turin, chained himself in protest of his premise’s temporary closure after new coronavirus restrictions came into effect on March 15
Business owner Mr Drago pictured outside his bar. Schools, restaurants, shops and museums have closed in 13 of the country’s 20 ‘red zone’ regions
Mr Drago pictured in handcuffs. Italy reported 481 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday against 501 the day before, the health ministry said
He told Italian newspaper La Stampa: ‘After a year nothing has changed. I can’t even pay for bread.’
Mr Drago then explained that his gesture is not only against the government but also to encourage others to ‘protest to save their business’, adding: ‘Dying of Covid or hunger we have no options.
‘The state is a wolf and we are unfortunately a people of sheep.’
Italy has registered 110,328 deaths linked to Covid since its outbreak emerged in February last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world.
The country has reported 3.6million cases to date.
Patients in hospital with Covid – not including those in intensive care – stood at 28,704 on Friday, down from 28,949 a day earlier.
There were 232 new admissions to intensive care units, down from 244 on Thursday. The total number of intensive care patients increased to 3,704 from a previous 3,681.
Regional Affairs Minister Mariastella Gelmini said today that Italy set a new record of over 300,000 coronavirus vaccinations on Thursday.
Meanwhile, despite the country being in a strict lockdown this Easter, guests aboard the MSC Grandiosa cruise ship a few miles offshore are shimmying to Latin music on deck and sipping cocktails by the pool.
In one of the anomalies of lockdowns that have shuttered hotels and resorts around the world, the Grandiosa has been plying the Mediterranean Sea this winter with seven-night cruises, a lonely flag-bearer of the global cruise industry.
After cruise ships were early sources of highly publicised coronavirus outbreaks, the Grandiosa has tried to chart a course through the pandemic with strict anti-virus protocols approved by Italian authorities that seek to create a ‘health bubble’ on board.
Passengers and crew are tested before and during cruises. Mask mandates, temperature checks, contact-tracing wristbands and frequent cleaning of the ship are all designed to prevent outbreaks.
Doses of AstraZeneca Covid vaccines are delivered in Rome, Italy. Regional Affairs Minister Mariastella Gelmini said on Friday that Italy set a new record of over 300,000 Covid vaccinations yesterday
A medical staff member prepares AstraZeneca Covid vaccine doses at the Roma 1 local health authority headquarters in Rome, Italy, on Friday
Vials of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine are seen being prepared in Rome, Italy, on Friday
A doctor administers a dose of the Pfizer Covid vaccine to a patient at a medical office in Rome, Italy, on Friday
Passengers from outside Italy must arrive with negative Covid tests taken within 48 hours of their departures and only residents of Europe’s Schengen countries plus Romania, Croatia and Bulgaria are permitted to book under Covid insurance policies.
On Wednesday, the Grandiosa left the Italian port of Civitavecchia for its weeklong Easter cruise, with 2,000 of its 6,000-passenger capacity and stops planned in Naples and Valletta, Malta, before returning to its home port in Genoa.
Passengers welcomed the semblance of normalcy brought on by the freedom to eat in a restaurant or sit poolside without a mask, even if the virus is still a present concern.
‘After a year of restrictive measures, we thought we could take a break for a week and relax,’ said Stefania Battistoni, a 39-year-old teacher and single mother who drove all night from Bolzano, in northern Italy, with her two sons and mother to board the cruise.