Coronavirus: Italians who fled to south as north locked down spark fears of deadly escalation

Italy Virus Outbreak Italy's Epicenter - Copyright AP- In this Tuesday, March 17, 2020 filer, death notices are seen on a board along an empty road in Alzano Lombardo, near Bergamo, the heart of the hardest-hit province in Italy’s hardest-hit region of Lombardy, Italy

By Giorgia Orlandi

Published on 20/03/2020 - 16:37

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Many student and professionals in Northern Italy headed south as the regions began to lock down. They may have gone to be with their families, but at what cost to other regions?

As the death toll and number of infections continue to mount in Italy, the country's south is bracing for an explosion of new cases.

Our correspondent Giorgia Orlandi is covering the story in Rome. She says local governors raised the alarm after they saw a wave of new arrivals from the north - potentially bringing the virus with them.