Italy coronavirus doctor describes dying patients ’last moments as they beg to speak to loved ones – The Sun, Thesun.co.uk

Il Giornale : “Yo u know what’s most dramatic? Seeing patients dying alone, listening to them as they beg you to say goodbye to their children and grandchildren. ”

She added: “They are lucid, they do not go into narcolepsy. It is as if they were drowning, but with time to understand it.

“When they are about to die, they sense it”.

They are lucid … When they are about to die, they sense it.

Doctor Francesca Cortellaro

The doctor described how she helped a dying grandmother say a final goodbye to her granddaughter.

“I pulled out the phone and called her on video,” she explained.

“They said goodbye. Soon after she was gone.

“By now I have a long list of video calls. I call it a farewell list.” ON THE FRONT LINE

Doctors and nurses across the world have shared

harrowing tales and photos of exhausting shifts as they battle against the virus.

As Italy sees the worst coronavirus outbreak outside of China , Italian doctors have been struggling with the rate of infected patients.

Nurse Elena Pagliarini, , was snapped slumped at her desk with a keyboard for a pillow and a mask over her face, as she snatched a five-minute break.

She has been working round the clock shifts at Cremona Hospital near Milan.

Fears are mounting that the national health system may not be able to keep up with the disease.

Bergamo, in the Lombardy region near Milan, is among the Italian towns worst affected by coronavirus.

It has more than 2, confirmed cases and almost (deaths from COVID – .

A church chapel next to the city’s cemetery has been transformed into a mortuary chamber.

The chapel of All Saints keeps an average of 150 coffins a day ahead of burial or cremation, Milan newspaper Corriere della Sera reported.

The adjacent cemetery has been closed to the public for the first time since the Second World War.

The crematorium cannot cope with the high mortality rate and is working hours a day.

Families of the victims often wait several days before their loved ones can be cremated.

ON ON LOCKDOWN

Italy has seen the worst coronavirus outbreak outside of China, with more than 1, (deaths and the total number of people infected with COVID-) (standing at more than) , .

The country was put under an unprecedented lockdown on Monday in a desperate attempt to control the spread of coronavirus.

On Wednesday, Italy took the drastic step to close all shops except pharmacies and food outlets.

Hairdressers and beauty parlors have closed, along with bars and restaurants that cannot guarantee they can keep a distance of at least one meter between customers.

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio told the BBC the measures imposed in the first area in the north of the country were proving effective.

He said: “Italy was the first nation in Europe to be affected so badly. But I hope it also means that Italy is the first one to leave the emergency behind.

“Our grandfathers were drafted to go to war; we’re being asked to stay at home.”