Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala and Naples Mayor Luigi de Magistris are seeking clarification from central government after Walter Ricciardi, a top physician who is an advisor to Health Minister Roberto Speranza, said the two cities should be put into lockdown because of high levels of COVID-19 contagion.
"This morning we spoke to Naples Mayor Luigi de Magistris because yesterday health ministry consultant Ricciardi called for a lockdown in Naples and Milan," Sala said in a video posted on social media.
"We wrote to the minister (Speranza) to ask whether that is the opinion of his consultant or the opinion of his ministry and, if it is the opinion of his ministry, what figures and information is it based on, which the ministry has and we don't".
On Tuesday Ricciardi said. that "in Milan and Naples you can get COVID by walking into a bar or a restaurant or catching a bus.
"It is very easy to come into close contact with someone who is positive because the virus is circulating so much," he added.
"A lockdown is needed in these areas, in others it isn't.
"There are areas of the country where transmission is exponential.
"The latest restrictions (imposed by central government) can be effective in the rest of the country, but they do not suffice to stop contagion in these areas".
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