As Italy pays the highest death toll yet of the 2020 pandemic, Italian officials have been using the internet to communicate with the public, in order to provide guidance, support, and in some cases Italian-style criticism.
"How come everyone has turned into a running enthusiast?" An Italian mayor shouts out in a video to tell citizens to stay at home. #Coronavirus pic.twitter.com/g0JtR9EVM1
— China Xinhua News (@XHNews) March 20, 2020
A video posted by Gianfilippo Bancheri, mayor of Delia in Sicily, has gone viral. The young mayor called on his residents to limit their interactions with others to stop the outbreak of the novel coronavirus, that has gone out of control in the country.
For more screaming, Italian mayors check this video out as well. pic.twitter.com/uzPb2kANxJ
— Brenda Stoter Boscolo (@BrendaStoter) March 23, 2020
Bancheri wondered what makes people in Delia communicate with their neighbours, saying that it's not the time to strengthen social bonds with one another. People better stay in their homes and keep following the social distancing rule to avoid contracting COVID-19.
The mayor angrily mentioned phone calls he receives regularly from people asking him whether they can go jogging around town. He also lashes out at women who reportedly ask hairdressers to come to their homes for services, saying that this doesn't help in protecting them from the virus.
The Mayor seeing "Marathon runners" ?? pic.twitter.com/AixNnjcrAz
— Mfanfikile Zungu (@JenzoDaDon) March 24, 2020
This video, that sparked lots of social media reactions, is not the only one in Italy, as the country tries to tackle one of its worst health crises in modern history, making use of influential officials position and popularity.
More than 70k people have been infected with the virus that originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December, while more than 7k have lost their lives over the last few weeks.
Gotta love the hand gestures ??
— Sipho Alfred Ngwenya (@NgwenyaSA5) March 24, 2020
