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Coronavirus Live Updates: Global Toll Rises; W.H.O. Expert Says Lockdowns Aren’t Enough

Italy’s numbers are soaring, Spanish hospitals are overflowing, and Hawaii orders a 14-day quarantine.
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Parts of Australia have begun shutting down, with states closing schools, beaches, clubs and places of worship.
ImageItalian soldiers on patrol on the Piazza di Spagna in Rome on Saturday.
Credit...Alessandro Penso for The New York Times
Italy has imposed a lockdown, deployed the army and risked its economy to try to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Yet its toll is growing more staggering by the day: By Sunday the country had more than 53,500 cases and over 4,800 deaths, surpassing China as the country with the highest death toll.
Italy’s struggle is increasingly being seen as a tragic warning for other countries to heed, in part because it is paying the price of early mixed messages by scientists and politicians. The people who have died in staggering numbers recently were mostly infected during the confusion of a week or two ago.
The government has sent in the army to enforce the lockdown in Lombardy, the northern region at the center of the outbreak, where bodies have piled up in churches. On Friday night, the authorities tightened the nationwide lockdown, closing parks, banning outdoor activities including walking or jogging far from home.
On Saturday night, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced another drastic step in response to what he called the country’s most difficult crisis since World War II: Italy will close its factories and all production that is not absolutely essential, an enormous economic sacrifice intended to contain the virus and protect lives.
“The state is here,” he said in an effort to reassure the public.
If Italy’s experience shows anything, it is that measures to isolate affected areas and limit the movement of the broader population need to be taken early, put in place with absolute clarity and then strictly enforced.

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