Videos have been shared on social media of Italian citizens singing and dancing during a nationwide lockdown amid the coronavirus pandemic.
The videos, from various cities and towns, show people singing from balconies and windows in an attempt to boost morale, with all non-essential shops and services still closed in the country.
Italy is one of the worst affected countries in the world by COVID-19, with 17,660 confirmed cases and 1,266 deaths, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. That’s the largest outbreak outside of China.
One widely shared video shows neighbors singing a patriotic folk song in Siena, a city in central Italy’s Tuscany region.
A video from Naples shows people singing a song reportedly called “Abbracciame,” which translates as “hug me.”
Another from Naples, the regional capital of Campania, shows a woman smiling and dancing at her balcony.
In Sicily, neighbours are seen accompanied by a man playing the accordion. Twitter user John Nichols said in his tweet: “Sicily has figured out this whole self-isolation thing.”
On Wednesday evening, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that supermarkets and pharmacies would be the only retailers to remain open in Italy. The country is under a national lockdown restricting citizens’ movement and activities until April 3.
