Current condition update from one of UNAIR Lecturer in Italy as the second-highest country with Corona Virus outbreak

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Joeni Arianto Kurniawan, a lecturer at Faculty of Law UNAIR who lives in Pisa, Italy. (Personal Doc.)

UNAIR NEWS – Since its appearance in December 2019, Coronavirus Disease 2019 or Covid-19 has infected many people from hundreds of countries. World health organization (WHO) establishes this virus as a global pandemic, considering that Covid-19 has spread geographically across continents.

Until Friday on March 13, 120 countries in the world confirmed infected with Covid-19. Real-time data compiled from Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) on March 13 at 7 p.m, Italy became the second-highest country after China with 15,113 cases. Deaths from Covid-19 in Italy reached 1,016 people.

One of Universitas Airlangga lecturers who is currently pursuing further studies in Italy, Joeni Arianto Kurniawan told how the country faced Covid-19. Joeni is studying at Faculty of Law, University of Pisa. He lives with his family in Pisa with his wife and one children.

As a result of Covid-19, which hit various countries, including Italy, the man who started his studies since January 2017 is currently undergoing online learning because the local government issued a national lockdown policy since March 10.

The Italian government has taken an unprecedented measure of limiting movement for 60 million people in an effort to contain the spread of coronavirus. With the restrictions, schools and universities remain closed since March 5.

“To be honest, my family and I don’t have any masks, because masks and hand sanitizers are indeed hard to find in here,” said the lecturer who took the concentration of studies on Law, Religion, and Culture.

As for the hand sanitizer, Joeni said that his family still has supplies from before the Corona virus outbreak.

“As a backup, we are forced to make our own hand sanitizers while waiting for the supply of masks, and hand sanitizers promised to be imported from Indonesia in Indonesian Embassy in Rome,” Joeni added.

Current condition in Italy

Joeni shared the current condition through his personal blog. He explained that at first people in here underestimate this problem, and the number of Covid-19 patients is increasingly growing. Besides, Italian like to socialize, and this habit needs to be temporarily muted given the appearance of Covid-19, which is getting higher day by day.

From his perspective, the Italian Government designated the entire region as a red zone. Flights in Italy is temporarily closed to minimize community interaction with new people.

“All people are encouraged to live in their own homes, and the streets are quiet everywhere, “he said.

With this policy, people are encouraged to stay at home and not allowed to leave the city. A limited number of people are only allowed to go to certain places for urgent purposes, such as supermarkets and pharmacies.

Italian Government’s policy will be last until April 3, 2020. However, if conditions do not improve, there is a possibility that the policy will be extended.

Indonesian Embassy in Rome

From data compiled by the Indonesian Embassy in Rome, the number of Indonesian citizens in Italy is currently 3,067. You can imagine there are thousands of Indonesian citizens who are experiencing the same thing as Joeni.

Even so, the Indonesian Embassy in Rome is quite aware of the Indonesian citizens there. A video conference was held between the Indonesian Embassy in Rome and several Indonesian citizens in Italy on Tuesday, March 10. Joeni was one of the people who followed the video conference.

Joeni (left, above) during a video conference with Indonesian citizens in Italy and Indonesian Embassy in Rome. (Personal Doc.)

“In my personal view, this is a good thing because besides opening the door of communication actively and effectively, it also gives a message and the impression that the Government of the Republic of Indonesia does not neglect its citizens abroad,” he said.

Regarding his studies at University of Pisa, a lecturer at Faculty of Law UNAIR said that the study will be finished at the end of 2020. “This is the last year of my study. God willing, the end of the year (2020, ed) I can finish my study, “he said.

According to him, there has been no positive report on Corona’s citizens in Italy. Meanwhile, for the plan to return to the country for all Indonesian citizens in Italy, at least it can only be done until the lockdown schedule that is put into effect ends on April 3, 2020.

“Praying for all of the Indonesian citizens in Italy to stay safe and healthy. As we in Italy also pray for everyone who lives in Indonesia.”

Author: Binti Q. Masruroh

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