Two regions in northern Italy have become the epicentres of Covid-19 infection after a sudden spike in confirmed cases of Covid-19 over the past three days.
The number of cases has risen to 155 from just three a week ago.
Three deaths have been reported from the country and the authorities have locked down at least 10 towns in the northern region.
We’re near the exclusion zone beside #Codogno, the epicentre of #Italy’s #Coronavirus outbreak. Police say if we cross here, we’d need to quarantine and couldn’t leave for some time. A resident told me by phone just one fruit/vegetable shop is open in a town of 16,000 people. pic.twitter.com/lQUnE4GEDT
— Mark Lowen (@marklowen) February 23, 2020
Shops, cafes and schools were closed and major events such as Series A matches and the Venice Carnival have been cancelled as well.
The residents in northern Italy scurried to get their hands on supplies and face masks at local markets as the Covid-19 situation escalated.
Panic buying
According to Euronews, long queues have formed in the supermarkets at Casalpusterleno after it was locked down by authorities.
Police were activated to manage the crowd at a supermarket in Lodi province.
While Milan has not reported any confirmed cases, shelves have been emptied by residents out of fear of the coronavirus spread.
https://twitter.com/QuakeFury/status/1231670560180121600
https://twitter.com/PorterMedium/status/1231669184154787850
The same scenes have allegedly been sighted in other parts of northern Italy:
https://twitter.com/ASBreakingNews/status/1231675013213888512
Supermercati presi d assalto, situazione surreale in Lombardia. Siamo ufficialmente impazziti #COVID19italia pic.twitter.com/46nx9ooLTQ
— Simone 👺 (@SiArw16) February 23, 2020
https://twitter.com/jasperatAT/status/1231581451293995009
This is my supermarket in Northern Italy. Everyone is going around with masks. People ar queueing at 11pm to stock food and necessities before it all runs out #COVID19italia pic.twitter.com/oryLXmfwPM
— Cam (@xniallssecret) February 23, 2020
Looks right... here a photo from the supermarket near my house in Northern italy pic.twitter.com/R5LsxIraeu
— Kurt V (@Matteusso) February 23, 2020
#Italy 🇮🇹 #coronavirus
— CoronaVirus Updates🦠 (@COVID19Update) February 23, 2020
Panic Stucking up on food B/c of CoronaVirus.🦠
Store shelves are getting empty at the local supermarket in Basiglio, the city South of #Milan, Italy.
#coronavirusitalIa #ItalyCoronavirus#COVID19italia #CoronaVirusitaly pic.twitter.com/lVVbBjsjqZ
They just bought almost everything from the supermarket because of the Corona Virus that's spreading in Italy... pic.twitter.com/S2L3Ls3uMt
— Antheal- 🧡🤍💗 (@Antheal_arts) February 23, 2020
Two supermarkets around my area closed down due to lack of supplies. This is the situation at some random supermarket we found open. They are running out of food, pretty crazy for Italy 😐😱 #coronarvirusitalia pic.twitter.com/iqBDl2jjC6
— Jacopo Nardiello 🇪🇺🇮🇹 (@jnardiello) February 23, 2020
Top photo collage via @jorahmustlive/Twitter
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