English
Italiano
In a meeting of CONI, held at the Foro Italico, Italian National Olympic Committee President Giovanni Malagò confirmed that it has been unanimously decided to suspend all team sports competitions, at all levels until April 3, 2020.
A short time later the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, in a press conference at Palazzo Chigi said "all of Italy will be a protected zone".
So, the entire peninsula is now in fact the 'red zone'
As was already the case today in Lombardy and in the 14 northern provinces, the movement of people is prohibited except for proven health, necessity or work reasons.
"I am fully aware of the seriousness and responsibility - explained Conte - We cannot afford to let our guard down. It is the moment for responsibility. The right decision is to stay at home. Our future is in our hands".
The Prime Minister did not talk about limiting public transport, this to ensure the continuity of the production system and to allow people to go to work.
The new measures will be operational from tomorrow morning.
As far as sport is concerned, all Serie A football championship matches have been brought to a halt. And for those who know Italians this is perhaps the most evident sign of the seriousness of the situation.
At this moment, obviously, it is not clear what will happen to the other sports. That is, if it will be allowed to participate in sports events outside Italy.
To date, as we wrote in the afternoon, F1 will race in Australia, while the next race, the Bahrain Grand Prix, will be held behind closed doors.
Motorcycling now awaits concrete directives that can only come from the FIM which, in agreement with Dorna, organizer of the two most important championships, MotoGP and Superbike, will have to decide what to do.
Also, because the ball, at this point, passes to other countries which, as Qatar did last week, could prohibit, even after quarantine, entry to the Italians.
So, the decision to race for Valentino Rossi, Andrea Dovizioso (read his #distantimauniti campaign) and all the others is no longer up to them. Every nation, in fact, will decide on its own borders.
Just to be clear: Carmelo Ezpeleta may also decide to run the Grand Prix behind closed doors, or move them from one circuit to another, as is thought to be done between Austin and Indianapolis, but he will not be able to do anything if other countries say no to the Italians.
At this point, as Carlo Pernat said yesterday, it would be much more logical to move the calendar forward. Maybe even giving up on some Grands Prix.
