Italian Opposition MPs Donating Part Of Salary For Coronavirus Fight

Italian opposition leader Matteo Salvini says all lawmakers from his far-right League party are donating part of their parliamentary salary for the new coronavirus emergency.

“It’s a small gesture of duty,” he says at a news conference.

The League has 60 seats in the Italian Senate, 125 seats in the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of parliament, and 29 seats in the European Parliament.

Italy reported 345 new coronavirus deaths in the country over the last 24 hours taking its total death toll to 2,503 – an increase of 16 per cent.

The total number of cases in Italy rose to 31,506 from a previous 27,980, up 12.6 per cent – the slowest rate of increase since the contagion came to light on Feb. 21.

Italy is the European country hardest hit by coronavirus.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has described the coronavirus pandemic as the “defining global health crisis of our time”, and urged countries to test all suspected cases of COVID-19.

Globally, the virus has infected 184,976 people and killed just more than 7,500, according to the WHO.

Almost 80,000 people have recovered from the infection, according to data collected by Johns Hopkins University.

Meanwhile, Cuba recorded its first death from the new coronavirus on Wednesday when a 61-year-old Italian tourist died as the island nation’s confirmed cases rose to 10, the public health ministry said.

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