Woman trapped at home with husband's dead body after being quarantined

A general view shows an empty street on February 23, 2020 in the small Italian town of Codogno under the shadow of a new coronavirus outbreak, as Italy took drastic containment steps as worldwide fears over the epidemic spiralled. (Photo: AFP)

An Italian woman was trapped in her apartment with her husband's body after he died of Coronavirus on Monday. The woman could not leave her home in Borghetto Santa Spirito owing to quarantine restrictions, a report in mirror.co.uk read. A neighbour was quoted in the report saying that a widow was seen crying from the balcony and calling out for help.

They said, "Right now, the most important thing is to think about this lady, alone with the body of her husband. No one can come close to help her nor comfort her. We hope this is quickly resolved."

In a CNN report, Giancarlo Canepa, mayor of the north east Italian town, 40 miles from Genoa, said the body would not be able to be removed until Wednesday morning. He said the woman was there with the body, but they would not be able to remove it until Wednesday morning. "Unfortunately, we have a security protocol we must follow," he was quoted saying.

He said the dead man had also refused to be taken to the hospital for treatment. This comes just after "COVID-19 outbreak was characterised as a pandemic", the head of the World Health Organisation said on Wednesday. "COVID-19 can be characterised as a pandemic," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said reporters in Geneva. "We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a Coronavirus."

Illustration/Atul Jain

In the latest wave of restrictions, Italy on Wednesday shut all stores except for pharmacies and food shops in a desperate bid to halt the spread of coronavirus that has killed 827 in the European country in just over two weeks. Italy has witnessed nearly 60 per cent of the deaths recorded outside China since the epidemic first started spreading from the Asian giant's central Hubei province in January.

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