The first country outside Asia to experience the coronavirus pandemic on a large scale was Italy. It was the first to go into lockdown and impose a national quarantine, on March 9. And it is the part of Europe that suffered most. As of May 3, 29,000 people were known to have lost their lives because of Covid-19. The actual figures are likely to be higher, as they will be everywhere else. My northern region — Lombardy, Italy’s economic powerhouse — has registered half of the country’s deaths.

Army truck convoys carried coffins to crematories around the country from Bergamo — where the death rate in March and April rose to more than four times what it was last year. Brescia, Lodi, Cremona and Crema — where I live — were also deeply affected. My hometown has been a ghost town for two months. People moaned but stayed at home.