INTRODUCTION
The new
Corona virus or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)
that causes COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) was first identified in Wuhan,
China, in December 2019. The virus then spread to several countries, such as
Thailand, Japan, South Korea and the United States. (Song et al., 2020). A
number of new cases continue to grow over time and become a significant threat
to international health. Until March 11, 2020 the World Health Organization
(WHO) designated the COVID-19 outbreak as a pandemic. (WHO, 2020).
Italy –
since the beginning of March 2020 – is one of the countries that reported the
most positive cases of CoVID-19 in Europe, with approximately 10% of cases requiring
intensive care and more than 35000 cases of death. As a consequence, on March
9, the Italian government imposed a strict lockdown status. This status was
initially put into effect in the northern region of Itaia
until 10 March 2020 expanding throughout the country and lasting until May 4,
2020. (Paolini et al., 2020). restricting the movement of the population
except for reasons of fulfillment of established needs such as employment or
health, this is done to avoid the uncontrolled spread of infection throughout
Italy. (Silverio et al., 2020).
Analysis of
data obtained from civil protection shows that the majority of positive cases
and deaths due to COVID 19 are in northern Italy – especially Lombardy, Emilia
Romagna, Veneto, and Piedmont-with a declining number of cases heading towards
central and southern Italy, as well as some cases in Basilicata. (Li et al.,
2020). According Di Lorenzo & Di Trolio (2020)
the most severely affected areas are areas with adequate health services, for
example Lombardy and Veneto hospitals are Italy's flagship health centers with
adequate protocol and management standards in dealing with many diseases. In
addition, there is a passive migration of hospital patients from the south to
the north.
A case of
COVID-19 in Italy was found on February 21, 2020 in a 38-year-old man being
treated at Codogno Hospital in Lodi, Northern Italy. On the same day a similar
case was also found in Vo Euaneuo (Padua). Meanwhile,
in the Veneto region the first deaths due to COVID-19 were reported from a
78-year-old man at a hospital in padua area. It was
the first case to start a series of deaths thereafter. Deaths in the Lambordi region reached a total of 10,022 deaths, higher
than the death toll in China with 3342 total deaths. (Sartor et al., 2020).
The case of
COVID-19 in Italy was the most horrendous event in Italy after World War II,
where the death rate was higher than that of China, the country from which the
virus originated. italy was the first European
country with confirmed positive cases and spread rapidly.
Many
Italians are not prepared for the virus as a result of inadequate health
protection equipment such as masks for the public, especially for health
workers, inadequate ventilators and a high number of infected elderly people
are also the cause of the increasing death rate in Italy. (Indolfi & Spaccarotella, 2020).
METHOD
The design of this research is Literature Review
which is to collect data or sources related to a particular topic obtained from
various sources such as books, journals, encyclopedias, newspapers, magazines
and other libraries. Literature review is or critically review the knowledge,
ideas or findings in a library and formulates theoretical and methodological
contributions to a particular topic. The nature of this research is descriptive
analysis that is the regular decomposition of data that has been obtained and
then given understanding and explanation in order to be well understood by the
reader.
RESULTS AND
DISCUSSION
Why
Are Deaths in Italy So High?
According (Di Lorenzo & Di Trolio, 2020),
the percentage of deaths is determined by dividing the number of deaths due to
COVID-19 by the total number of confirmed positive cases of COVID-19 cases. In
Italy, the mortality rate is 9% in Lombardy (>10%), while the kematain rate in Wuhan is 5.8% and the remaining <1% in
China. The high mortality rate in Italy is likely due to the average age of
infected Italians higher than in other countries, for example with China and
Korea, where the number of confirmed CASES of COVID-19 is young women with a
percentage of 62% and 30% of positive cases are in the age of 20-30 years.
Meanwhile, in Italy the average age of cases of death due to COVID-19 is 79 tahum, and more than 70% are male. In addition, the high
mortality rate is likely due to the presence of other congenital diseases
suffered by COVID-19 patients and are in their twilight years. Who reports that
COVID-19 patients without congenital diseases have a 1.4% mortality rate while
COVD-19 patients with dangerous congenital diseases have a higher mortality
rate of 13%, 9% and 7.6% for patients with congenital diseases such as
cardiovascular, diabetes, and cancer. Quoted from TIME magazine, the spread of
the virus went undetected, long before the first case was confirmed, the virus
had long spread in Italy.
In
addition to the aforementioned causes, Italian cultural culture is also one of
the causes of this virus by spreading rapidly. One of italian
culture is the habit of making physical contact with others, such as hugging
each other and kissing the cheeks of family or close friends and the lack of
distance between each other while talking. Large social gatherings, especially
in publlik areas are part of their daily lives. In
addition, two-thirds of Italians live in urban areas with high levels of
population density (Belligoni, 2020).
This of course further accelerates the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak and
extends the list of positive cases.
Lockdown Italy
Policy
The Italian government imposed a total
lockdown status across the country on March 10, 2020, three years after the first
case was confirmed. However, McCann et al. (2020)
that the instruction is late in effect. This suggests that Italy initially
underestimated the COVID-19 outbreak. Although in the northern regions of Italy
has been put in lockdown, but some cafes and bars are still open until 6 pm.
The cathedral in Milan is also still open to accepting tourists while new cases
continue to emerge. Lockdown information in italy's
northern regions was also leaked before the ban was put in place so that people
had already left the area. This adds to the long list of new cases that are
constantly popping up. The peak of the first wave of pandemics is in early
March to April 2020, where the number of deaths reaches almost 1000 deaths per
day. (Ortenzi et al., 2020). Scientists argue that Italian authorities did
not act decisively to stop the virus at the start of the outbreak, the
government tends to underestimate the dangers of vurs
and miscalculate the rate of spread of the virus.
Even
so, the lockdown policy had a fairly positive impact to prevent the spread of
the outbreak. This is evident from the significant decrease in the number of new
cases after the lockdown policy was put in place in the Lodi and Padua areas.
The number of COVID-19 cases decreased in the summer. Unfortunately, European
countries including Italy are again facing a second wave of COVID-19 outbreaks (Bontempi, 2021).
In September 2020, the government re-opened schools, although it continued to
implement health protocols but new cases of the COVID-19 outbreak began to
increase significantly in major Italian cities such as Milan, Naples and Rome.
This is according to (Chirico et al., 2021)
probably caused by two things. (1) the public transport system opened to
support the reopening of schools and businesses, local and local governments
will not reorganize the transportation system to minimize the risk of COVID-19
transmission so that public transportation becomes congested; and (2) the
opening of the company's kemballi and re-activity as usual.therefore, since the beginning of October 2020 all epidemological indicators such as new cases are confirmed,
the number of serious or critical cases and the number of new deaths increases
rapidly. As of December 2, 2020, the total number of COVID-19 cases registered
in Italy was 1,601,554 cases, 407,791 of which were registered in Lombardy (Varrella, 2020).
The second wave of the outbreak shook the region as badly as the first wave.
Socio-Economic
Impact of Italy's Lockdown Policy
Italy
was the first European country to initiate national mitigation measures (social
distancing, isolation for confirmed positive and suspected cases, and the
closure of schools and universities) that led to the suspension of all
nonsensical production in the country from early March to early May 2020.
Activities deemed uninsportant, including public administration
activities, are still permitted to continue operating by imposing remote work.
According Giuffrida (2020),
lockdown policies also have an impact on people's mental health. A recent
survey showed that eight out of ten Italians admit that they need psychological
support to get through a pandemic crisis. This is because they experience anxiety
about the virus, the emotional impact of physical distance, and economic
pressures during this pandemic. Psychologists argue that increased anxiety and
depression are strongly associated with isolation policies. Italy also suffered
a financial recession, even making Italian society struggle to cope with this.
They began to worry about how to meet basic needs because of job losses. Since
the beginning of March many people have difficulty in dealing with this sitauasi. What's more, they have not received the
assistance promised by the government. To deal with this impact, the government
also provides toll-free numbers so that people get psychological support during
this crisis. The Italian Society for Emergency Psychology also helped deal with
psychological problems during the pandemic. The agency has helped 750 residents
struggling in anxiety, loneliness, fear and panic attacks. Many psychologists
also volunteer to provide free consultations. (Perrone, 2020).
Public
finances also declined due to the COVID-19 crisis. GDP is projected to shrink
by 8% (compared to the predicted increase before COVID of 0.6%), the public
deficit increases from 2.2% to 10.4%, public debt to GDP increases to 155.7%
(from before COVID forecast of 135.2%) and the unemployment rate to 11.6%.
Experts estimate that of italy's 10 million people, a
fifth of the number of adults, will fall into poverty and unable to meet vital
spending on food, medicine and homes. (Bull, 2020).
The government is facing this by providing 3.3 billion euros from the central
government to local governments to be distributed to people who do not receive
benefits and to cover 80% of salaries during the lockdown. In addition, the
government also allocates 30 billion euros to affected companies for
freelancers and guarantees short-term funding (credit and loans) of up to six
years. (Mascio et al., 2020).
On March 29, the National Civil Protection also sent 400 million euros to all
municipalities for their residents to purchase food vouchers and basic necessities
based on population and income criteria. (Sanfelici, 2020).
Crisis in Italy
During Covid-19 Pandemic: Request for Help Does Not Get Positive Response
On
26 February 2020 new confirmed cases tripled every 48 hours, Italian Prime
Minister Giuseppe Conte appealed for help to fellow EU member states. Hospitals
in Italy are overwhelmed, doctors and nurses are running out of the maxer, gloves and aprons needed to keep themselves safe.
Medics were forced to put the lives of critically ill people to God because of
a lack of ventilators. Quoted by The Guardian, the Italian government sent an
emergency message from Rome to the Berlaymont
European Commission headquarters in Brussels. Specifications of Italian needs
are uploaded to the EU's Common Emergency Communication and Information System
(CECIS). However, the request did not receive a positive response. Janez Lenarčič, the European
Commissioner in charge of crisis management, said that the lack of a positive
response to Italy's request was not due to a lack of solidarity, but because
other countries were just as unprepared as Italy. (Boffey et al., 2020).
Moreover,
there has been a refusal by northern European countries to support mutual ties
in a "recovery bond" on behalf of all EU zone countries to help fund
the rebuilding of a national economy that is expected to sink deep into
recession. However, conservative leaders in rich countries such as Germany, the
Netherlands, and Austra disagreed with the idea,
especially with heavily indebted countries such as Italy. On the other hand, Comission President Urusula von
der Leyen apologized to Italy for the lack of solidarity of European countries
in dealing with the COVID-19 crisis and offered assistance in dealing with the
economic impact. He said the E.U. would allocate more than 100 billion euros
($109.62 billion) to the most affected countries, starting with Italy to help
cover lost wages and to maintain jobs. (Lenoir, 2020).
Impact
of Italy's Covid Outbreak on International Relations
Amid
a lack of response from both European and U.S. countries, China is the country
that provides assistance to Italy. In early March, medics and tons of medical
equipment were brought by China to Italy. The Chinese Embassy conducted a
successful campaign through social media to emphasize acts of solidarity, and
the italian government publicly praised the initiative.
however, many people who judge the acts of solidarity campaigned by China have
another goal, namely to raise softpower and change
the narrative about the outbreak of pandemics. In response, the United States
also took action. In late March 2020, Trump announced sending $100 million in
medical support to Italy and signing a Memorandum of Assistance for COVID-19 to
the Republic of Italy. China's initiatives are proving more effective according
to public acceptance. As SWG srvei points out in E-Internatioal Relation, the percentage of Italians who
consider China to be a friendly country has jumped from 10% in January to more
than 50% in March. In addition, an average of 36% of the Italian public view
China as the best international ally, while the percentage of public assessment
of Italians is about 30%. During the COVID-19 crisis, timing was critical and
China responded quickly and precisely, while America (and Europe) were judged
to be slow and less spectacular even though qualitatively and quantitatively
superior (Catapano, 2020).
Some of the main issues can be identified from COVID-19
cases occurring in Italy. The increase in positive cases in Italy is largely due
to bias and policy changes in patient testing. People with severe symptoms are
more likely to be tested than people who do not have symptoms, Common tests
used for the diagnosis of COVID1-19 may be inaccurate and their validity is
poor where standard procedures for covid-19 tests are not enforced in all
regions. Italy's population is relatively old ( average age = 47.3 years) where
the case fatality rate (CFR) of Covid-19 is higher for the elderly. Moreover,
Italy's culture away from the habit of 'social distancing" is exacerbating
the positive case in Italy. On the other hand 'social distansing' creates
serious consequences in various aspects of life, ranging from social
interaction (especially in the proes empathy), economic level, employment and
infrastructure gaps.
Regarding the psychological impact on society, it is
worth remembering that Italy was the first country in Europe to be affected by
the COVID-19 pandemic, the first country in Europe to implement a lockdown, and
also the country with the highest positive case in Europe at the time. This
most likely made Italians feel more unlucky compared to other countries in
Europe which then adversely affected their emotional and psychic condition at
the time. But on the other hand it also evokes their solidarity -- among
italians - even the world community in the face of the covid-19 pandemic, this
can be seen on various social media at that time where almost all the world
community support each other.
The solidarity of the world's countries in the face of
COVID – aid to Italy – is enough to help Italy, China For example. Although the
EU was initially considered to lack solidarity in the face of the pandemic,
especially when the EU's lack of rapid response to Italian aid requests, in the
end the EU provided substantial assistance. Despite the CoVID-19 pandemic,
Italy-Europe relations have indeed deteriorated before. This tension is
triggered by various events that are mostly triggered by political and economic
problems.
CONCLUSION
Italy is the first country to be infected with COVID-19
and is the third country with the most cases of infection in the world. The
Italian government is considered unprepared and late in the face of the
COVID-19 outbreak resulting in confirmed positive cases and massive kematain numbers.
The government is trying to suppress the increase in new cases by implementing
a gradual lockdown policy until the total lockdown. This policy finally
succeeded in lowering the curve of COVID-19 sufferers. In addition, the
government has also managed to overcome the impact of COVID on picological and
economic social problems through cooperation with various parties including,
masayrakat Italia itself.
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