Italy considers psychological testing to determine how long people can endure coronavirus lockdown
- Scientists want to see how long people can stay confined to their home
- Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will announce set of social guidelines this week
- Italy went into progressively more restrictive lockdown over first half of March
- Citizens not allowed to walk more than 650 feet from home without good reason
- Learn more about how to help people impacted by COVID
Italian scientists want the government to conduct psychological tests on a sample of the population to determine how long people can stay confined to their homes, a report said Monday.
Scientists want to understand how long Italians ‘are able to endure a lockdown’ in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, according to Corriere della Sera.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will announce a new set of social guidelines this week that could include the tests, the report said.
Italian scientists want the government to conduct psychological tests on a sample of the population to determine how long people can stay confined to their homes, a report said Monday
The Corriere della Sera newspaper said scientists want to understand how long Italians ‘are able to endure a lockdown’ in the face of the coronavirus pandemic
Italy entered into a progressively more restrictive lockdown over the first half of March that has since been replicated by most European nations.
The Mediterranean country’s 60 million citizens have been barred from walking more than 200 metres (650 feet) from their homes without a significant reason.
Reports of domestic abuse have surged and scientists worry about the impact of such isolation on the elderly and the more vulnerable.
Conte’s government is now debating how it can lift the stay-at-home order and reopen businesses while there is still no coronavirus cure or vaccine.
Italy’s 60 million citizens have been barred from walking more than 200 metres (650 feet) from their homes without a significant reason
The virus has officially killed 23,660 in Italy – second only to the United States – and probably many more because most care home deaths are not counted.
On Saturday, Italy 12 other countries in calling for greater global cooperation to lessen the economic impact of the pandemic.
‘It is vital that we work together to save lives and livelihoods,’ they said.
The group, which also includes Britain, France, Indonesia, Mexico, Morocco, Peru, South Korea, Singapore and Turkey, said it was committed to ‘work with all countries to coordinate on public health, travel, trade, economic and financial measures in order to minimise disruptions and recover stronger’.
The countries emphasised the need to maintain ‘air, land and marine transportation links’ to ensure the continued flow of goods including medical equipment and aid, and the return home of travellers.