What Could Italy Have Done Differently?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: So, here you are several weeks into your crisis and two days into a nationwide lockdown. Can you tell me how that is affecting the country and how do you even patrol and monitor a lockdown of this size?

MATTEO RENZI, FORMER ITALIAN PRIME MINISTER: It’s a very strange experience, particularly for a people as Italian people. Very used to shaking hand, to give hugs, kiss, Italian people is not a people able to block everything. But there is a priority today and the priority is to block the coronavirus because maybe also we, as Italian establishment, as Italian people, we made some mistakes and we became, unfortunately, the first country in Europe for number of contagious. So, the idea is that after the Sunday, last Sunday, everyone have to stay at home with the possibility, of course, to buy the thing important for the life, for the drugs, for the food, of course. But lots of shops are closed. And we believe for the next two weeks, more or less, to live in a very strange situation for the first time after World War II. But I think this is necessary.
And my opinion, that measures very, very strong will be the same measures in every country of Europe in the next days because if you follow the graphics, the numbers of problem in Italy are exactly the same of the numbers of the problem in France and in Germany in the first days. So, in the next days, if France and Germany were not able to block as in Italy will have the same problem. So, it’s very strange, strange, strange situation.