A Timeline of the Situation in Italy

DateTotal CasesTotal DeathsArea Impacted by ActionNational ActionProvincial ActionSignificant Events
29 JanRomeThe Spellanzani Hospital in Rome (specializing in contagious disease) admitted 2 infected Chinese tourists who eventually recovered even though they were seriously ill.
20 Feb10ItalyGovernment suspended all direct flights to/from China.
21 Feb191Vo EuganeoAfter its 1st death, the town of Vo Euganeo, issued a strict lockdown and tested all its 3,300 residents. After 2 weeks of lockdown and quarantining of cases, only 0.25% of residents were infected. The town continued to isolate these last few cases. These measures allowed Vo to reduce transmission by 90%.
22 Feb1322
23 Feb1523Red Zone*
Comprised of 11 towns, 10 in Lombardy and 1 in Veneto. (50,000 people)		National government issued its first directives for the Red Zone which:
1) closed public spaces, e.g., parks; 2) suspended events e.g., sports, religious, and cultural, in both public and private settings; 3) closed schools, universities, and art/dance academies; 4) closed museums, cinemas, and places of culture; 5) suspended all commercial and industrial manufacturing activity and non-essential public services in Red Zone; 6) allowed municipalities to quarantine close contacts; 7) prohibited residents in Red Zone from leaving town. Police and Carabinieri surrounded and sealed the area.
Lockdown for “Red Zone” slated to continue until 6 March; later extended to 13 March.		Carnival of Venice and Carnival of Ivrea cancelled.
24 FebLodiThe province of Lodi implemented a strict lockdown for several of its towns, unlike other regions in the north. As a result, they flattened the curve much earlier than other regions and have had about half the cases as neighboring Bergamo.
25 Feb32311MilanThe mayor of Milan unveiled a campaign, “Milan Doesn’t Stop,” allowing bars to remain open in the evenings.
26 Feb
27 Feb52814TurinSome companies, including insurance giant Generali and fashion brand Armani adopted various work-from-home policies.
28 Feb65017MilanMilan locked down schools, gyms, and public offices but allowed pubs and cafes to remain open while subject to an on-and-off curfew.
29 Feb1,12829
1 Mar1,69441Bergamo, Lodi, Piacenza, CremonaOn Saturdays and Sundays, closed medium and large sales shops.
Lombardy and province of PiacenzaSuspended activities of gyms, sports centers, swimming pools/centers, spas, cultural centers, social centers, and recreation centers.Italian bishops ordered that Masses not be held during week in specific areas in northern Italy, i.e., Lombardy, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Savona in Liguria region and Po Valley.
Milan’s cathedral opened back up for tourists.
ItalyRecommendations issued from National Government to: 1) allow work from home; 2) suspend educational trips; 3) require public facilities to provide hygiene prevention measures and to sanitize vehicles; 4) require returning international travelers to tell physician.
2 Mar1,689
10% of Lombardy’s doctors and nurses could not work because they tested positive for the virus and were in quarantine. Hospitals in hard-hit Lodi and Cremona so overwhelmed that they closed their emergency rooms; new patients were taken elsewhere.
3 Mar2,03652ItalyNational Health Institute chief Silvio Brusaferro urged Italians to wash hands frequently, remain 1 meter apart, refrain from hugging, and stay away from crowded spaces.
4 Mar2,50279
5 Mar3,089107
6 Mar4,636197ItalyRome approved plan to employ up to 20,000 student doctors and nurses ready to graduate from medical schools so that they could work in clinics and nursing homes, freeing up more experienced staff to work with more serious cases.
7 Mar5,883233Lombardy and 14 provinces: Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Rimini, Pesaro and Urbino, Alessandria, Asti, Novara, Verbano Cusio Ossola, Vercelli, Padua, Treviso and Venice (16 million people)National government issued new decree, due to go into effect on 8 March, that would forbid people from Lombardy, Veneto and some provinces in Emilia-Romagna, Piedmont and Marche to travel. The same night, a large number of people escaped the northern regions and traveled south to their family homes. Pope canceled appearance at St. Peters Square on Sunday and general audience on Wednesday
8 MarLombardy and 14 provinces: Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Rimini, Pesaro and Urbino, Alessandria, Asti, Novara, Verbano Cusio Ossola, Vercelli, Padua, Treviso and Venice (16 million people)New decree from 7 March in effect. It: 1) prohibited movement in/out region except for business or health purposes; 2) banned gatherings, including religious activities; 3) closed cinemas, museums, theaters, pubs, dance halls; 4) closed gyms, pools, spas, etc.; 5) prohibited sports events and funerals; 6) only allowed bars, restaurants, etc. to open from 6:00 to 18:00 and, when open, required customers to be 1 meter apart; 7) closed all shops on weekends and, when open, required customers to be 1 meter apart; 8) cancelled leave for health workers; 9) barred visitors in prisons. (This sparked riots in 22 facilities resulting in 11 inmate deaths.)
Theoretically, fines of $234 and/or up to 3 months in jail were imposed for defying lockdown.
9 Mar7,375366Lombardy and 14 provincesPublic Masses banned, but some priests kept churches open for individual prayer.
10 Mar9,172463Italy“Lockdown” was extended to entire country. In addition, the lockdown was tightened to: 1) require people to stay home, resulting decree being nicknamed “io resto a casa (I stay at home)”; 2) close all non-essential commercial and retail businesses; 3) finally close restaurants, bars, and most shops; 4) close parks.
11 Mar10,149613
12 Mar12,462827
Providers had to start deciding who to treat. Euronews reported that sources told them that "survival is decided by age, and by health conditions." "These factors determine who does and does not have access to ventilators."
13 Mar15,1131,016LombardyLombardy’s Chief of Health, Guilio Gallera, asked for closure of factories, all officies and businesses, and public transport.
14 Mar21,1571,441RomeCardinal Angelo De Donates, Papal Vicar of Rome, ordered closure of all churches in Rome; he modified order next day.
15 Mar24,7471,809North
Northern Italy was almost out of ventilators. Lombardy transported 40 patients to other regions.
16 Mar25,0581,697ChiariThe company Isinnova created 100 Venturi valves using 3-D printing and gave them to local hospital.
17 Mar27,9802,158TurinFiat Chrysler started limited production.
18 Mar31,5062,503Italy/TurinGovernment threatened to ban all outside exercise.Fiat Chrysler halted production.
19 Mar31,7722,390ItalyLockdown extended beyond initial 3 April date.
20 Mar41,0353,405LombardyIn Lombardy, police and 100 soldiers brought in to enforce ban since people were ignoring it.
21 Mar47,0214,032ItalyCuba sent 52-person medical brigade to Italy. Amazon stopped shipping non-essential supplies.
22 MarItalyNational government tightened restrictions to: 1) close all non-essential industrial factories and commercial businesses; 2) close all parks: 3) ban biking and jogging and all outdoor sport that cannot be practiced at home; 4) set radius for dog walking at 200 meters.Authorities in Lombardy raised fines for violator to 5,000 euros ($5,345)Italy made a direct appeal to Defense Secretary Mark Esper for US military aid. Esper provided an En-Route Patient Staging System (ERPSS) to Aviano AB for delivery to the Italian Ministry of Defense. This system provides 10 patient holding/staging beds and can support a maximum throughput of 40 patients in a 24-hours period.
23 Mar63,9276,077ItalyChina made commitment to supply 14M masks for next 2 months. Need 90M masks per month; government projected being self-sufficient in 2 months.
25 out of 90 MDs were infected with virus and were probably a large factor for spread of virus.
24 Mar69,1766,820ItalyItaly's defense minister asked Esper for additional critical medical equipment like masks and ventilators.
Death rate for Italy is 9.5% versus Germany with 0.4%. Proposed reasons for difference: 1) The most important factor given was that Germany worked early to track, test, and contain infection clusters (broke chain); 2) Age of residents; 3) Started with young coming back from vacation.
Reuters reports that nursing homes were seeing significant rise in number of death, many of which were just classified as pneumonia, leading to underreported deaths from virus.
25 Mar74,3867,503
26 Mar
27 Mar80,5398,165
Cases began moving south
28 Mar86,4989,134ItalyAlbania sent 30 medical workers to Italy.
29 Mar92,47210,023
30 Mar97,68910,779ItalyGovernment extended nationwide lockdown, due to end 3 April, until 13 April.Reuters published article re need to separate cases from their family; suggested that, otherwise, people with mild symptoms go home and infect rest of family.
31 Mar
1 Apr105,79212,428Italy
2 Apr
3 Apr115,24213,915
4 Apr119,82714,681
5 Apr
6 Apr128,94815,887
7 Apr132,54716,523
8 Apr136,58616,523
9 Apr139,44217,669
10 Apr147,57718,847ItalyGovernment extended lockdown measure, due to end 13 April, until 3 May.
11 Apr
12 Apr158,36319,899
13 Apr159,91520,465
14 Apr162.48821,087
15 Apr165,15621,645
16 Apr168,94122,170
17 Apr172,43422,745
18 Apr
19 Apr178,97223,662
20 Apr181.22824,114
21 Apr183,95724,648
22 Apr187,32725,085
23 Apr