Italians are beating the social isolation imposed by the country’s COVID-19 lockdown by taking to their windows and singing in unison, with videos of the phenomenon racking up thousands of views online.
Since Monday, a series of decrees from the Italian government have drastically limited citizens’ movements, with vast swathes of the economy shut down and people instructed to leave the house only when strictly necessary.
Italy has been struck by the worst European outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, with more than 17,000 cases and 1,266 deaths.
Photo: AP
All cultural events have been suspended, prompting some celebrities to start organizing online performances and museums to put virtual tours online.
Another attempt to boost morale has come in the form of impromptu music at people’s windows. One recording in the Tuscan city of Siena has been viewed more than 600,000 times on Twitter.
In it, residents sing the traditional Canto della Verbena about the city from their windows, including a rousing verse with the words “long live our Siena!”
Photo: Reuters
Italian singer Andrea Sannino posted a compilation on his Instagram feed of people singing his song Abbracciame (“Embrace Me”) at their windows in the southern city of Naples, his hometown.
“A day I will tell my children and grandchildren about,” the singer wrote, adding: “Thank you for making me cry floods of tears!”
In another video purportedly of an apartment building in the northern city of Turin, residents can be seen on their balconies trying to perform the Macarena, a Spanish dance song, in unison.
On Friday evening in several districts of Rome, music and singing could be heard coming from people’s windows, including renditions of the national anthem.
Another tune heard was Grazie Roma, a popular song from the 1990s, which includes the words: “Tell me what it is which makes us feel like we’re together, even when we’re apart.”
Another social media initiative has seen Italians put up signs outside their homes saying “Andra tutto bene,” or “Everything will be OK.”
The slogan is accompanied by a picture of a rainbow — often drawn by children at home as school is canceled.
The effects of the nationwide quarantine can already be measured in lower air pollution levels and falling nitrogen dioxide emissions, with the decline particularly evident in the northern region that entered lockdown ahead of the rest of the country.
The drop in pollution has been detected by the Sentinel-5 Precursor satellite, and researchers concluded that it was primarily the result of efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.
“We are very confident that the reduction in emissions that we can see coincides with the lockdown in Italy causing less traffic and industrial activities,” said Claus Zehner, the satellite’s mission manager at the European Space Agency.
The Copernicus Sentinel-5 satellite tracked nitrogen dioxide emissions across Europe from Jan. 1 to Wednesday, using a 10-day moving average.
Nitrous oxide accounts for 6 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions, according to Rhodium Group, a research firm that produces annual estimates.
Most of that comes from agriculture, although fossil fuels use also contributes to the total.
A fire caused by a burst gas pipe yesterday spread to several homes and sent a fireball soaring into the sky outside Malaysia’s largest city, injuring more than 100 people. The towering inferno near a gas station in Putra Heights outside Kuala Lumpur was visible for kilometers and lasted for several hours. It happened during a public holiday as Muslims, who are the majority in Malaysia, celebrate the second day of Eid al-Fitr. National oil company Petronas said the fire started at one of its gas pipelines at 8:10am and the affected pipeline was later isolated. Disaster management officials said shutting the
US Vice President J.D. Vance on Friday accused Denmark of not having done enough to protect Greenland, when he visited the strategically placed and resource-rich Danish territory coveted by US President Donald Trump. Vance made his comment during a trip to the Pituffik Space Base in northwestern Greenland, a visit viewed by Copenhagen and Nuuk as a provocation. “Our message to Denmark is very simple: You have not done a good job by the people of Greenland,” Vance told a news conference. “You have under-invested in the people of Greenland, and you have under-invested in the security architecture of this
Japan unveiled a plan on Thursday to evacuate around 120,000 residents and tourists from its southern islets near Taiwan within six days in the event of an “emergency”. The plan was put together as “the security situation surrounding our nation grows severe” and with an “emergency” in mind, the government’s crisis management office said. Exactly what that emergency might be was left unspecified in the plan but it envisages the evacuation of around 120,000 people in five Japanese islets close to Taiwan. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has stepped up military pressure in recent years, including
UNREST: The authorities in Turkey arrested 13 Turkish journalists in five days, deported a BBC correspondent and on Thursday arrested a reporter from Sweden Waving flags and chanting slogans, many hundreds of thousands of anti-government demonstrators on Saturday rallied in Istanbul, Turkey, in defence of democracy after the arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem Imamoglu which sparked Turkey’s worst street unrest in more than a decade. Under a cloudless blue sky, vast crowds gathered in Maltepe on the Asian side of Turkey’s biggest city on the eve of the Eid al-Fitr celebration which started yesterday, marking the end of Ramadan. Ozgur Ozel, chairman of the main opposition Republican People’s Party (CHP), which organized the rally, said there were 2.2 million people in the crowd, but
RSS