Italy's world-topping coronavirus death toll shot past 10,000 on Saturday and showed few sign of slowing down.
"Is it time to reopen the country? I think we have to think about it really carefully," civil protection service chief Angelo Borrelli told reporters."The country is at a standstill and we must maintain the least amount of activity possible to ensure the survival of all."
"If one is being reasonable, one cannot envision a quick return to normal life," Conte said in his latest sombre television address.The monumental economic toll of fighting the pandemic has triggered a huge row among European leaders about how best to respond. The bloc has already loosened its purse strings in ways not seen since the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.France is backing a push by Italy and Spain for the EU to start issuing"corona bonds" - a form of common debt that governments sell to raise money to address individual economic needs.Conte said he and German Chancellor Angela Merkel had"not just a disagreement but a hard a frank confrontation" this week about how to proceed.
But Italy is facing the threat of a near economic collapse after being the first European country to shutter almost all its businesses on Mar 12.
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