Advertisement

Updated April 3rd, 2020 at 13:54 IST

Rome residents donate food for hardest-hit by virus

As Rome's poorer residents struggle to make ends meet amid the country's coronavirus lockdown, people have been donating to food banks in increasing numbers.

| Image:self
Advertisement

As Rome's poorer residents struggle to make ends meet amid the country's coronavirus lockdown, people have been donating to food banks in increasing numbers.

Giulio Gonzaga, a now unemployed resident of the Italian capital, who used to do small informal moving jobs with his lorry, said he had asked family members for help for the first three weeks.

Now, it was "becoming unbearable to continue asking," and he had turned to the Civil Protection for food aid.

The Italian government imposed a strict lockdown on individual movement in early March and shut down all non-essential businesses, to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

The restrictions are proving tough for those on low incomes, informal workers and small businesses.

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte has introduced several economic measures to compensate for income shortfalls and the shutdown of factories.

Those with informal jobs should be eligible for a 600 euro (650 US dollar) allowance, but it is still unclear how they can access this.

The Italian National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) has estimated that 3.7 million Italians work off-the-books.

The government recently allocated 400 million euros (433 US dollars) to a food aid fund. But due to bureaucracy, the initiative is not expected to reach all those in need before the end of April.

Now a month into the lockdown, many mayors and borough presidents have started their own economic support initiatives, such as the solidarity shopping corner in Tufello.

The donated food comes from customers, associations and supermarket owners, and usually includes pasta, tomato sauce, milk, sugar and flour.

 

Advertisement

Published April 3rd, 2020 at 13:54 IST

Your Voice. Now Direct.

Send us your views, we’ll publish them. This section is moderated.

Advertisement
Advertisement

Trending Quicks

Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Whatsapp logo