BREXIT and beyond ....: 'Guess who helped Italy?' Brussels under attack over failure to act fast on coronavirus

Thursday 12 March 2020

'Guess who helped Italy?' Brussels under attack over failure to act fast on coronavirus

CORONAVIRUS continues to cripple Italy and the rest of the world with European countries failing to show solidarity towards their neighbours and China stepping in to make up for Brussels' failure to act fast.

PUBLISHED: 09:59, Thu, Mar 12, 2020 | UPDATED: 13:33, Thu, Mar 12, 2020

The European Union continues to come under attack as it fails to help Italy deal with the biggest outbreak of coronavirus outside China. Italy begged the European Commission for swift action to help the country deal with the deadly virus outbreak but received no practical support. Now China, where COVID-19 originally started, has stepped in to help Italy get all the medical equipment it needs.

Speaking to TalkRADIO, former Brexit Party MEP Alexandra Phillips blasted: “The EU can’t act quickly unless its own project is under fire and suddenly it will take anti-democratic measures removing elected leaders and replacing them with eurocratic apparatchiks.

“What’s interesting at the moment is that Italy has appealed to the European Commission saying we need help, we need some serious contingencies to make sure we have enough medicines in the country to deal with coronavirus.

“And there was an overwhelming silence from across the continent.

“And guess which country has stepped in with a bilateral agreement to actually give Italy those medicines? China.”

Coronavirus: Italy helped by China as EU fails to act quickly (Image: GETTY)

Police are forcing people to keep apart in Italian cafes as part of efforts to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the country.

The number of people testing positive for COVID-19 has surpassed 10,000 in Italy, more than anywhere else in the world bar China where the outbreak began.

China only reported 24 new cases on Wednesday, compared to thousands per day last month, and the country is now seeing cases being brought in from overseas with six recorded cases in Beijing coming from outside the country: five from Italy and one from the United States.

In Italy, many of Italy's 62 million people have been encouraged to stay home and police across the country have patrolled cafes to ensure owners kept customers one metre apart during daylight hours and then enforced a strict 6pm closure order.

"It's bad. People are terrorised," said Massimo Leonardo, who runs a market stall. "I've never seen anything like it."

Coronavirus: How contagious is the virus? (Image: EXPRESS)

Italy has found itself increasingly sealed off as other countries sought to keep infections contained.

Malta and Spain announced a ban on air traffic from Italy, while British Airways and Air Canada suspended all Italy flights.

Britain, Ireland, Hong Kong and Germany strengthened travel advisories and urged their citizens to leave and even the Vatican erected a new barricade at the edge of St Peter's Square.

"Get out of northern Italy if you're there," said Erik Broegger Rasmussen, head of consular services for Denmark's foreign ministry.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has been warned Italy will unleash a brutal backlash to the response its EU partners have had to the coronavirus crisis crippling the country.

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