Coronavirus: This Italian had to be quarantined three times

“Probably had bad luck”: Italians had to go to corontane three times (100 days in total)

An Italian has involuntarily become a real quarantine professional during the Corona pandemic. He has now been isolated three times because of the virus, Lorenzo Di Berardino tells the German Press Agency on the phone – first in Wuhan, China, as a returnee in Italy and then in his home, which was particularly affected by the spread. “I guess I was unlucky somehow,” comments the 22-year-old.

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Of all places in Wuhan, from where the Sars-CoV-2 virus spread worldwide, the student stayed at the beginning of the year for an exchange program lasting several months. The metropolis was cordoned off a few days before his planned departure.

«Wuhan was completely closed off with an army and roadblocks. People took it very seriously, much more seriously than here in Italy, at least initially, »he says. Without realizing that something similar was about to happen in their own country, Italian media interviewed the compatriot at the end of January about the situation in the restricted area.

Skeptical looks on the return

In early February, the Italian Air Force flew him and other citizens from the region. As a returnee, he was quarantined for 17 days in army barracks near Rome. When he returned home in the center of the country on February 20, some residents had looked suspicious, Di Berardino says.

On the same day, Italy’s first locally transmitted corona case was reported in the city of Codogno. On March 10, the government ordered closings and curfews across the country.

Since then, Di Berardino has continued his law studies online from home. The first easing in early May didn’t change much. His view of the locks that have followed him practically around the world? “We just have to do it whether we like it or not.” (dab / sda / dpa)