Venice appears to have emptied out of tourists as fears of the coronavirus epidemic increase with every new case diagnosed. Less than a week after the end of the annual Carnival celebration, which usually attracts over three million people each year in Italy’s northeastern city, Venice’s historic St Mark’s Square had only a few people milling about, a live webcam overlooking the tourist hotspot has shown. A few dozen people can be seen walking around the square after local authorities ordered the closure of all museums and tourist attractions as well as the postponement of all public events up until March 3.
Tables outside the several porticos’ cafes can be seen devoid of tourists and locals alike after over 820 people have tested positive to COVID-19 in the past week alone.
Local shop owner Michele Masnada conceded the decision to shut down the Carnival celebrations, alongside fears of the epidemic spreading, contributed to turning Venice into a semi-ghost town.
Mr Masnada said: “The situation was ideal until Sunday night, when they decided to stop Carnival.
“Now little by little people are going away – we can see how it is now.”
VENICE LIVE WEBCAM: Watch here historic St Mark’s Square empty amid coronavirus fears
One of the hotbeds of the Italian outbreak was located in the small town of Vò Euganeo, 60km southwest of Venice, where the first Italian victim of the virus died on February 22.
Despite the virus spreading however, gondolier Emanuele Tagliapietra insisted the city is not “living in fear” but conceded to adopting precautionary methods to avoid catching coronavirus.
Mr Tagliapietre said: “We take precautions such as disinfecting seats.
“We wash hands, we use disinfectant gel but we are not living in fear this situation.”
With many businesses closed to avoid spreading the infection, Italy has been warned it could face a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) loss between -1 percent and -3 percent.
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The US State Department raised its travel advisory for Italy up to its second-highest-level warning due to coronavirus. The Level 3 warning urges American travellers to reconsider travel because of Italy becoming the country with the largest number of cases in Europe.
Latest statistics have shown Covid-19 outpacing SARS, MERS and Ebola crises.
On Friday the World Health Organisation (WHO) raised the risk of coronavirus to “very high”, warning an “an all-of-government, an all-of-society approach” was needed to contain the outbreak.
Health Minister Edward Argar said the UK continued to be in the “containment phase” in terms of the spread of coronavirus.
Mr Argar told the BBC: “We’re still in the containment phase of this disease. We have been pretty good at containing it thus far. And the chief medical officer has been very clear that there is no reason to think that we shouldn’t be able to continue containing it, so that’s what our focus is on.”
Asked about reports that as many of 15 percent of the UK’s population could need hospital treatment as a result of the infection, the minister said it was “difficult” to make judgments based on events in other countries.