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The village of Nerola, located on a hilltop some 50 km (31 miles) from Rome, has recorded dozens of positive cases of coronavirus, prompting the army and Carabinieri to set up checkpoints leading up to the village, effectively isolating it from the rest of the country, as seen on footage on Thursday.
Footage shows the checkpoints, through which only “health workers, law enforcement, those who deliver food and those who do essential work” can enter, according to Nerola’s Mayor Sabina Granieri.
“On March 21, the results of some tests made in a retirement home in the centre of Nerola, showed that there were 56 retirement home patients who were positive to Covid-19, along with 16 employees. A total of 72 positive cases, which is too high in a municipality of 1,900 inhabitants,” explained Granieri.
The mayor described the ensuing panic which prevailed among the predominately elderly population of the village. “I am a bit like a condominium administrator, everyone has my number, so people constantly called to ask if it was true, and what is happening and what’s going to happen. I tried to calm them all.”
Granieri also explained how the Nerola municipality requested testing kits from regional authorities, and were granted three different types. “[…] the simple swab, the drawing of blood from the finger, and the serological test. We have also been very important on an experimental level: the “pic” is a rapid test that could replace the swab, while the serological test identifies the evolution of the virus and any antibodies.”
“To date we only have 7 positives out of 760 tests, always linked to the nursing home. So you can say, at least this is what the health workers are telling me, that we have blocked the evolution of the infection,” said Granieri.
The village has been dubbed a human laboratory by some due to its residents not being allowed to leave their homes under any circumstances, according to reports. Moreover, reports also suggest that road signs leading up to the village have been taken down.
Italy has recorded over 139,000 cases of coronavirus since the start of the outbreak. Over 17,000 cases have resulted in death. Globally the number of coronavirus cases surpassed 1,5 million, with over 89,000 deaths.
Video ID: 20200409-024
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