March 10, 2020. Behind the rapid spread of the novel coronavirus in Italy were mistakes in the initial response to the first confirmed patient, the possibility of hospital-acquired infection, and the possible influence of increased Chinese tourism after Italy joined the Belt and Road Initiative. What happened to a country that moved closer to China?

March 10, 2020
About one month before the man’s illness was confirmed, two Chinese nationals developed symptoms while traveling in Italy, and among some experts there is also the view that the two spread the infection inside the country.
The following is from today’s Sankei Shimbun.
Italy’s delayed initial response led to the spread of infection
Some point to “the increase in Chinese visitors” as a cause
London, Kazumasa Bando
On the 8th, the Italian government announced that the number of deaths from infection with the novel coronavirus had risen by 133 from the previous day to 366.
The number of infected people increased by 1,492 to 7,375.
The rapid increase in the number of infected people is said to have been caused in part by an error in the initial response to the first confirmed infected person.
There are also opinions pointing out that the possibility cannot be ignored that tourists from China, whose number increased after the government joined China’s vast economic-zone initiative, the “Belt and Road,” became a “source of infection.”
According to British media, when a 38-year-old Italian man, whose onset of illness was first announced in Lombardy on February 21, initially came to the hospital with symptoms of pneumonia, infection was not suspected and he was not isolated.
It is believed that doctors and patients at the same hospital who came into contact with the man became infected.
There is a possibility that the infection spread rapidly through hospital-acquired infection, and Angelo Borrelli, head of the Civil Protection Department, pointed out to local media and others that “because of a lack of knowledge among medical workers, it was not recognized what kinds of symptoms should be suspected.”
In addition, a nurse at the hospital the man visited told Reuters, “At least one week before the first case was confirmed, cases of pneumonia had increased abnormally,” and added, “Those patients had received treatment and gone home.”
There is also a possibility that multiple patients who had been infected before the man were not isolated, came into contact with nearby citizens, and infected them.
The man had also eaten with an acquaintance who had returned from China several days before his illness was confirmed, but that acquaintance was not infected.
About one month before the man’s illness was confirmed, two Chinese nationals developed symptoms while traveling in Italy, and among some experts there is also the view that the two spread the infection inside the country.
In March of last year, the Italian government became the first among the Group of Seven, the G7, advanced nations to sign a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with the “Belt and Road.”
According to Reuters and other sources, as a result, the number of Chinese tourists who visited Italy from May to August of the same year increased by about 31 percent compared with the same period of the previous year.
A British expert who studies epidemiology said, “At this stage, it cannot be said conclusively that the increase in Chinese tourists triggered the spread of the novel coronavirus, but that possibility cannot be completely denied.”