Expand / Collapse search
Watch TV
Menu

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2024 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper.

Coronavirus

Italy's Matteo Salvini criticized after being spotted walking outside in Rome

By Bradford Betz Fox News
Published
close
Far and wide COVID-19 is disrupting the public's daily lives, so grab your pillows and blankets and feast your eyes on content that will keep you occupied from the comfort of your home. Video

Far and wide COVID-19 is disrupting the public's daily lives, so grab your pillows and blankets and feast your eyes on content that will keep you occupied from the comfort of your home.

Far and wide COVID-19 is disrupting the public's daily lives, so grab your pillows and blankets and feast your eyes on content that will keep you occupied from the comfort of your home.

Italian right-wing political leader Matteo Salvini drew outrage Monday after a photo captured him walking through the center of Rome without a mask and ignoring safety distance advised by officials to curb the coronavirus outbreak.

The photo was taken Sunday and published the next day in the Italian newspaper Messaggero.

Salvini, the leader of the Northern League and former deputy prime minister, was seen holding hands with his girlfriend in Via del Tritone in Rome. Neither wore a protective mask or maintained a safe distance of at least three feet mandated by the government.

Michele Bordo, a deputy with the center-left Democratic Party, accused Salvini of hypocrisy.

“While he spends his days saying on TV that everything must be closed, he goes around the capital without any valid justification, we presume, and violating the rules that apply to other citizens. It is yet another sign of how the leader of the League continues to make fun of Italians. People are tired of TV catwalks and lies,” Bordo said.

ITALY’S CORONAVIRUS HEALTH WORKERS FACE MASK SHORTAGE, SOME WEAR SAME MASK FOR 12 HOURS, AID GROUP SAYS

In a Facebook post, Salvini acknowledged he had left the house with his girlfriend.

“Yes, I confess. I went next door to go grocery shopping with my girlfriend. Can only people on the left go there? I confess I bought bread, pasta, milk and cheese,” he wrote. “The left should save energy and breath to deal with more useful things in facing this emergency.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The number of coronavirus cases in Italy surged Monday to over 24,000 while the death toll remained at about 1,800 – the highest of any country outside China.