The consular services at the Consulate General in Milan and the Consulate in Padova were suspended as of March 5 until March 15 and the period can be extended depending on Italian authorities’ recommendations. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration said the measure comes in response to the rising number of infections with COVID-19 in Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia Romagna regions in Italy and in connection with central Italian authorities’ recommendation to avoid crowded places, IPN reports.
According to the Ministry, the limitation of activities and flow of persons is an absolutely necessary precautionary measure given that the consular sections are daily visited massively by people from all the regions of Italy, which are affected by the novel virus to a greater or lesser extent.
The consulates continue to work in an extraordinary regime and will react only to cases of maximum urgency or emergencies, with preliminary appointment scheduling by phone. These cases include issuing of travel permits for emergency leaving for Moldova (justified), accidents, deaths, natural disasters or storms, loss of documents proven by reporting to the police.
In such cases, the Moldovan citizens can call beforehand the emergency numbers: Consulate General in Milan +39 3206108989 and Consulate in Padova +39 3805905331.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and European Integration recommends the Moldovans who are in Italy to remain clam, to inform themselves from official sources about the epidemiological situation and the measures taken by the Italian authorities and to strictly obey these.
According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, over 93,000 clinically-diagnosed and laboratory-confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been logged between December 31, 2019 and March 04, 2020. The death toll stands at 3,202. The largest number of deaths by countries: China (2,983), Italy (80), Iran (77), Korea (32), U.S. (9), cases in international transport – Japan (6), France (4), Australia (1), the Philippines (1), Taiwan (1), Thailand (1) and San Marino (1).
