Italian authorities warned the public that those who are showing symptoms of the deadly disease avoids going to quarantine could be charged with attempted murder if proven to have caused a patient’s death.
According to the media, those who are proven to have caused a patient’s death may face 21 years in prison, while virus spreaders could still be charged with misconduct even if no one was killed.
If someone ignored the authorities, went about their day despite showing symptoms and made someone fall ill for 40 days or more, they could face up to seven years in prison.
Anyone who attempts to go around Italian restrictions by lying about urgent reasons could be charged with false attestation to a public official and may face up to six years if found guilty.
Those who deliberately break the rules without a good reason will be subject to three months in custody or shall be fined for up to 206 Euros for misconduct.
Lawyer Franco Coppi told reporters, “If I am infected, I know I am, and I look for contact with other people regardless of the possibility of transmitting the infection, then the crime of injury occurs.”
The Italian media compared these possible charges to one spreading HIV by having unprotected sex, wherein a man in Rome was jailed for 24 years in 2017.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte made the announcement in a prime-time address, ordering bars, pubs and restaurants to shut down for two weeks, and shutting down all shops except from pharmacies and food stores.
In his nine-minute address to the nation, Conte said to the public, “Thank you to all Italians who make sacrifices. We are proving to be a great nation.”
The country is struggling to contain the spread of COVID-19, which now has more than 12,000 confirmed cases and death toll jumping at 27 deaths.