5G in WUHAN, China... and in MILAN, Italy

When I started looking at this I tried posting an official article from Chinese media about 5G in Wuhan, China I was refused several times and told it did not meet its "community standards"

Here is another link

Meanwhile...

And, as if by coincidence, they have 5G in Milan, which has just been locked down because of coronovirus.


How Vodafone Italy turned 
Milan into an extensive 5G 
testbed

Telecom TV

Working with Italy’s Ministry of Economic Development, Vodafone won a tender 18 months ago to create an extensive 5G testbed in the city of Milan. Since then, it has collaborated with 38 partners to develop close to 50 separate use cases, investing €90 million in the process. Vodafone says all the partners were interested to understand not just what 5G would bring to their own businesses, but also to society in general. It quickly discovered that 5G brings with it a new way of working, with real collaboration to co-develop and co-create services with completely different business models. The challenge now is to transform these trials into actual commercial products with end to end service assurance.


Filmed at: 5G World, London, June 2019

https://www.gsmarena.com/italy_becomes_the_third_european_country_with_5g-news-37424.php

How did the coronavirus start in Italy?

Google has thrown every obstacle in my way in formatting and posting this important article.

CORONA AND THE ITALIAN 

FASHION INDUSTRY

How the exploitation of Chinese workers helps spread the virus

CORONA UND DIE ITALIENISCHE MODEINDUSTRIE

Zackzack.at

It is no coincidence that Italy has hundreds of Corona cases. Tens of thousands of Chinese work illegally in sweatshops - without papers, without insurance, without health care. The fashion industry's greed for profit is to blame for the spread of the virus in Europe.

Vienna, February 27, 2020 / There are mattresses in the factories and workshops. Chinese immigrants live and work here in a confined space. They sew the garments, which are then ennobled by the "Made in Italy" label. The sweatshops themselves are mostly Chinese, who managed to escape the worst poverty as small entrepreneurs. On behalf of the major Italian fashion brands, they have sewing - unrivaled cheap.

The industry is doing well

"Pronto Moda" is how the Italians call the Chinese sewing industry. Many associate the term poverty, exploitation, but also cheap competition, which displaces indigenous workers from the market. The industry is flourishing: Italian fashion companies expect total sales of $ 42 billion in 2020.

Most Italian clothing companies are sewing factories, many of them sweatshops that do not comply with regulations. Job security, hygiene, fire protection, regulated working hours? Nothing.

A Chinese family lives and works in one of the thousands of Pratos sweatshops. Image: APA Picturedesk

Nobody knows how many Chinese workers work in the centers of the Italian textile industry. Up to 50,000 are said to be in Prato, the center of “Pronto Moda” near Florence. The "Chinatown" of the small town is considered the largest in Europe.

Sewing for a starvation wage

Many of the Chinese workers are "submarines", so they have no papers and are not officially registered anywhere. You have to save the around 1000 euros that you can earn per month - for up to 16, sometimes 18 hours of hard piecework every day. Because to get an official residence permit, the immigrants have to pay social security taxes of around 25,000 euros. Then there are the debts they made to pay for the snake heads - that's the name of the smugglers who brought them to Italy. The dangerous journey usually costs more than 10,000 euros.

For years the workers have had nothing of their hard-earned income. That's why they sleep in the factory. The tens of thousands of seamstresses do not have medical care. If one coughs in the tight workshops and mattress camps, everyone is quickly sick.

"Pronto Moda" and the virus

So Italy became the country with the most Corona cases in Europe. There were 322 confirmed cases in Italy on February 26. In the rest of Europe there were a total of 61. It is no coincidence that the Italian Corona cases occur precisely in those provinces where Chinese immigrants often live and work in dire conditions.

Milan region in Italy under lockdown

Italy to Lock Down Milan 

Region in Bid to Contain 

Coronavirus Outbreak

• Measures include a virtual ban on entry, exit in Lombardy
• 
  
• Several other northern areas are targeted in draft decree

Bloomberg

8 March, 2020

The Italian government is set to dramatically restrict movement and activity for a quarter of its population, or about 16 million people, according to a draft decree seen by Bloomberg.

The decision to lock down the Milan region and several other northern areas is the latest step in the effort to contain Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak. It comes as cases surged to 5,883 on Saturday with 233 deaths, and as Nicola Zingaretti, the leader of one of the two major government parties, announced he had contracted the illness.

The measures, set to come into force Sunday and last until April 3, will stop anyone from entering or exiting the most-affected areas, while movement inside will be allowed only for “non-deferrable” business or health reasons, the draft said. Skiing, public events, religious ceremonies and work meetings will be suspended, while schools, museums, swimming pools and theaters will close.

Bars and restaurants will have to make sure patrons keep at least a meter apart or they’ll be shut. The draft specifies that failing to respect the measures is a criminal offense, and might lead to imprisonment. Police and the army will be responsible for ensuring that containment measures are respected.

The restrictions will apply across Lombardy and in 11 provinces around cities including Venice, Modena, Parma, Rimini and Treviso.

Italy’s Democratic Party Head Tests Positive for Coronavirus

A second draft decree with new containment rules for the rest of the country, also seen by Bloomberg, recommends citizens avoid travel outside their hometowns unless absolutely necessary, and restricts public events. The government is set to approve both decrees in a meeting Saturday evening.

With Italy’s economy already at risk of recession before the outbreak, the crisis has all but paralyzed business activity in Lombardy -- which accounts for a fifth of the country’s gross domestic product -- and the rest of the north, Italy’s economic engine.

The government decided on Thursday to double emergency spending to 7.5 billion euros ($8.4 billion) to help cushion the economic impact of the virus. It’s also calling up 20,000 doctors, nurses and medical personnel to help deal with the outbreak. Fallout from the virus’s spread is slamming Italy’s key tourism industry at a time when the country is already teetering on the brink of recession.

The European Commission’s top economic officials approved Italy’s spending plans, saying in a letter to the government in Rome that its stimulus plans won’t be factored in when assessing the country’s compliance with the European Union’s fiscal rules.

One case was diagnosed in the Vatican -- the tiny walled city-state in central Rome that is home to Pope Francis and “emeritus” Pope Benedict XVI.

A man wearing a protective mask and a nun walk in a deserted St. Peter’s square at the Vatican on March 6.

Pope Francis will not celebrate Sunday’s weekly Angelus prayer from the window of the Apostolic Palace as he usually does, the Vatican said in a statement.

Francis will instead hold the event from the library in the palace, to avoid the risk of the coronavirus spreading among people queuing for security checks to access St. Peter’s Square, the Vatican said. The event will be relayed on giant screens and via streaming.

Coronavirus discussion with Leo Zagami by Dr. Paul Cottrell