page_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Italy
section_title: Religion
hierarchical_section_title: COVID-19 pandemic in Italy / Impact / Religion
caption_attribution_description: Italiano: "E guarirai da tutte le malattie..ed io, avrò cura di te", (Dio smaterializza la struttura molecolare del Coronavirus COVID-19 sull'Italia e sul mondo per porre fine alla pandemia del 2019-2020), china su graphia, opera dell'artista Giovanni Guida, 2020. L'illustrazione, ispirata al testo del brano "La cura" di Franco Battiato, è diventata virale nel mondo. Su uno sfondo del cielo oscuro è rappresentato Dio che, spalancando le braccia con un gesto solenne e perentorio, smaterializza la struttura molecolare del Covid-19 per impedirne la proliferazione ed evitare così la sua diffusione sull'Europa e sulla terra, raffigurata nel registro inferiore della composizione. L’Onnipotente è colto da un vento impetuoso, simbolo della potenza divina, che gonfia i panneggi del suo mantello: con la mano è pronto a disgregare questa nuova piaga dell’umanità con l’aiuto della corte angelica fluttuante. Questo gesto genera una nuova vita e ci insegna a sublimare tutte le condizioni negative per trarre da esse un insegnamento. Illustration "God fights the Coronavirus"(And you'll be cured of all diseases.. and I'll take care of you); "Бог борется с коронавирусом"; "Dios bloquea el coronavirus COVID-19 en el mundo"; "Dieu bloque le Coronavirus COVID-19 dans le monde"; "Diu bluccà u Coronavirus COVID-19 in u mondu"; "Deus bloqueia o coronavírus COVID-19 no mundo"; "Gott blockiert das Coronavirus COVID-19 auf der Welt"; "Hinarangan ng Diyos ang Coronavirus COVID-19 sa mundo"; "Isten blokkolja a koronavírus COVID-19-et a világon"; "Bog blokira Coronavirus COVID-19 na svetu"; "Boh blokuje Coronavirus COVID-19 na svete"; "Bóg blokuje Coronavirus COVID-19 na świecie"; "Ο Θεός μπλοκάρει τον Corovavirus COVID-19 στον κόσμο"; "Mae Duw yn blocio'r Coronavirus COVID-19 ar y byd"
context_page_description: The COVID-19 pandemic in Italy is part of the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was first confirmed to have spread to Italy on 31 January 2020, when two Chinese tourists in Rome tested positive for the virus. One week later an Italian man repatriated back to Italy from the city of Wuhan, China, was hospitalised and confirmed as the third case in Italy. A cluster of cases was later detected, starting with 16 confirmed cases in Lombardy on 21 February, and 60 additional cases and the first deaths on 22 February. By the beginning of March, the virus had spread to all regions of Italy. On 6 March 2020, the Italian College of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care published medical ethics recommendations regarding triage protocols that might need to be employed.
  On 31 January, the Italian government suspended all flights to and from China and declared a state of emergency. In February, eleven municipalities in northern Italy were identified as the centres of the two main Italian clusters and placed under quarantine. The majority of positive cases in other regions traced back to these two clusters.
context_section_description: In Italy, in-person gatherings for religious worship have been suspended and as a result, many churches broadcast Mass via online live-stream, radio and television.
  Church funerals cannot be held given the national lockdown. In some northern cities, authorities have had issues in dealing with the storage of the high number of coffins, and churches have offered to care for them. In the towns of Seriate and Bergamo, the Italian Army has volunteered to transport some of these coffins from churches and morgues to cemeteries and crematoriums in other provinces.
caption: God fights the Coronavirus above the world, viral illustration[473] of Giovanni Guida