'It's extremely empty': coronavirus brings Milan to a standstill

The people of Milan aren’t used to seeing their frenetic city so devoid of life.

“It is extremely empty,” said Angela Trapani as she stood outside a chemist opposite the city’s imposing Gothic cathedral. “I’ve never experienced anything like this. I live on the outskirts and work nearby; the good news is I managed to get a seat on the train this morning.”

Italy’s capital of finance and fashion is not under lockdown but it has come to a standstill after a cluster of towns in the wider Lombardy region were quarantined as authorities scramble to contain Europe’s worst outbreak of coronavirus.

The city’s stock exchange plunged again on Tuesday amid the panic, with many fearing the epidemic will push Italy back into recession.

The main businesses benefiting in Milan are supermarkets and chemists. Shoppers have been emptying shelves as they stockpile food, while chemists have sold out of face masks.

Eleven people have died of the illness since Friday, among them an 80-year-old man in Milan, and the number of people infected rose to over 300 on Tuesday as new cases were confirmed in Liguria, South Tyrol, Tuscany and Sicily.

Milan’s Duomo and La Scala opera house have been closed, as have cinemas, theatres, schools and universities. With many office staff working from home, the usually busy bars and restaurants in the centre are quiet, and the underground, trams and buses half empty. Train services in and out of the city have also been reduced.

TV crews, wary tourists and bored schoolchildren mostly made up the smattering of people wandering around the ordinarily bustling Piazza del Duomo on Tuesday afternoon.

Erika Casellapo, 16, is the only one of her three friends wearing a face mask as they sit on the steps of the cathedral.

“At first we were so happy that school closed,” she said. “But then that meant the school trips were cancelled too and, with everything else closed, there’s nothing to do and it’s boring to stay at home. It is so strange seeing Milan like this, but it makes us realise that something isn’t right; the problem feels more serious now.”

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A Turkish tourist, wearing a face mask, had just arrived in Milan with a friend after visiting Rome and Florence. “We tried to cancel but couldn’t,” she said. “We are worried, and we wouldn’t have come to Milan if our flight home wasn’t leaving from here.”

With panic spreading almost as quickly as the virus, over 50% of hotel bookings in the city have been cancelled since Friday. Italy’s tourism sector, which contributes about 13% to GDP, is especially vulnerable to the ramifications of coronavirus. Governments in several countries have warned their citizens against travelling to the country, particularly those in poor health.

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The bulk of the cancellations in Milan so far have come from business clients who had been due to host conferences or meetings at the city’s hotels.

“It’s devastating,” said Maurizio Naro, the president of Milan’s hotel association. “We are killing the Italian economy. Hoteliers have had to send staff home and close, or at least reduce their services. It’s as if Milan is at the centre of the quarantined zone, when it isn’t.”

Naro partly blamed “sensationalistic” communication for the panic. “It should be remembered that the death rate from the virus is very low and there are more people recovering from it compared to those who have died.”

The virus had already started to aggravate Italy’s weak economy in January, when two Chinese tourists in Rome were confirmed to be suffering from the virus, prompting the government to declare a state of emergency and ban flights between Italy and China.

Lombardy and Veneto, where the majority of coronavirus cases are, are among Italy’s wealthiest regions and make up between 25% and 30% of the country’s GDP.

“The main factor, and most worrying one, is the supply stock, in the sense that people aren’t going to work and therefore production is lower than usual,” said Francesco Giavazzi, an economics professor at Milan’s Bocconi University.

“Commerce has also been disrupted, with products not arriving where they’re supposed to arrive.”

Giuseppe Conte, the prime minister, warned that the economic fallout would be “very strong” but is hopeful that the contagion would soon be under control.

Enrico Giovannini, an economist and professor at Rome’s Tor Vergata university, said Italy’s ability to limit the damage would mostly depend on the political reaction.

“The coronavirus has come at a time when businesses were already being very cautious,” he said. “On top of that, there is the immediate economic impact of cancelled cultural and sporting events as well as the reduction of train services. A strong political response, particularly in regards to fiscal policies, will be decisive in confronting the economic shock.”

“So many people have been coming in for face masks since Thursday,” said Isidoro Colaizzo, who owns the chemist opposite the cathedral. “We don’t have any left but are expecting a delivery in the next few days. The fear was to be expected, but I want to assure people that they are in safe hands and authorities are doing everything to contain this.”