At Cotugno Hospital, a specialist infectious diseases facility that now only treats COVID-19 patients, armed guards patrol the corridors. As we walked inside we passed disinfection machines that look like airport scanners, but they clean you down.

While the speed of the virus storm caught everyone by surprise in the north, and medical teams were overwhelmed, things at this hospital were different. We were taken, fully clothed in our protective layers and goggles, into one of their Intensive Care Units (ICU).