Former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte under investigation for allegedly underestimating the spread of the coronavirus

MADRID, 2 Mar. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The Prosecutor's Office of the Italian city of Bergamo has closed this Wednesday an investigation to determine the criminal responsibility of the management of the start of the pandemic in the first outbreak of coronavirus in Europe and in which the former Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and the former Minister of Salud Roberto Speranza are listed as investigated.

After almost three years of investigation, prosecutor Antonio Chiappani has determined that the Italian authorities underestimated the spread of the virus despite the fact that data available weeks before indicated that the situation in Bergamo was worsening, noting that the imposition of a quarantine zone in the towns of Nembro and Alzano would have saved thousands of lives, reported 'Corriere della Sera'.

The suspects include former Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, former Health Minister Roberto Speranza, the president of the Lombardy region Attilio Fontana, or the president of the Higher Institute of Health Silvio Brusaferro.

In total there are 19 suspects accused of committing crimes such as aggravated culpable epidemic, multiple homicide and refusal of official documents. The prosecutor in charge of the case has ordered the Guardia di Finanza to notify 17 of the defendants, while the positions of Conte and Speranza must be evaluated by the court of ministers, reports 'Il Post'.

According to the study carried out by the Prosecutor's Office in collaboration with the Bruno Kesslersi Foundation, if a quarantine zone had been decreed in the municipalities of Nembro and Alzano on February 27, the death of nearly 4,000 people would have been prevented; while its imposition on March 3 would have saved 2,600 lives.

In addition, if the closure and sudden reopening of the Alzano Hospital -where dozens of people were infected with COVID-19 in February 2020- had been avoided or the pandemic plan had been updated to counteract the risk to one of them , more lives could have been saved.

Given the news of his investigation, the former prime minister and president of the Five Star Movement Giuseppe Conte has shown his willingness to collaborate with Justice. "I am calm in front of the country and the Italian citizens for having worked with the utmost commitment and with a full sense of responsibility during one of the hardest moments that our Republic has experienced," Conte asserted, according to AdnKronos.

On February 21, 2020, dozens of coronavirus cases were reported throughout Italy -- in addition to the first death from COVID-19 in the country --, which had a higher incidence in the town of Condogno, in Lombardy. The Conte Executive then isolated a dozen municipalities in the north of the country, but did not do so with Nembro and Alzano, where the virus circulated freely for almost two weeks.