500 Families Of COVID Victims Sue Italian Government, Citing Mistakes In Virus Response
On 12/23/20 at 5:11 PM EST
Families of coronavirus victims in Italy are suing local and national government leaders for an early pandemic response that they say was riddled with negligence and mistakes.
The families have alleged that Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Health Minister Roberto Speranza and Lombardy regional president Attilio Fontana contributed to over 70,000 virus deaths in Italy.
The lawsuit accuses the government authorities of being underprepared and failing to take action against an early virus outbreak that resulted in thousands of deaths across the Lombardy region. The action was filed by members of
LONDON British Health Secretary Matt Hancock says scientists have identified another new variant of the coronavirus in two people, both of whom are contacts of recent arrivals from South Africa.
Hancock told a press briefing that anyone who has been in South Africa in the past two weeks, together with their close contacts, have to quarantine themselves “immediately.”
Hancock said the evidence collated so far suggests that the new variant has “mutated further” than the one that recently prompted the British government to tighten restrictions across large parts of England and which led to many countries imposing travel bans on the U.K.
A glass window separates residents of a nursing home in Alzano Lombardo, Italy, from a Dec. 19 Christmas concert. Part of the country’s north, the area was hardest hit by the first wave of Covid-19. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)
ROME (AFP) Around 500 relatives of coronavirus victims are suing the Italian state for $122 million, alleging a litany of failures in the early stages of the pandemic, campaigners said Wednesday.
The action is being driven by the group “Noi Denunceremo” (We Will Denounce), which has already filed around 300 complaints with prosecutors in Bergamo, the city in the northern Lombardy region that suffered most from the first wave of the virus.
LONDON British Health Secretary Matt Hancock says scientists have identified another new variant of the coronavirus in two people, both of whom are contacts of recent arrivals from South Africa. Hancock told a press briefing that anyone who has been in South Africa in the past two weeks, together with their close contacts, have to quarantine themselves “immediately.” Hancock said the evidence collated so far suggests that the new variant has “mutated further” than the one that recently prompted the British government to tighten restrictions across large parts of England and which led to
Italians who lost family members to COVID-19 seek â¬100 million in damages
Around 500 relatives of people who died of COVID-19 in Italy said on Wednesday they were initiating legal action against regional and national authorities, seeking â¬100 million (more than $156 million Cdn) in damages.
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Posted: Dec 23, 2020 9:45 AM ET | Last Updated: December 23, 2020
A member of the medical staff washes his hands while working at the COVID-19 division at the ASST Papa Giovanni XXIII hospital in Bergamo in April. Italy has seen more than 1.9 million cases of COVID-19 and nearly 70,000 deaths.(Piero Cruciatti/AFP/Getty Images)
Around 500 relatives of people who died of COVID-19 in Italy said on Wednesday they were initiating legal action against regional and national authorities, seeking â¬100 million (more than $156 million Cdn) in damages.