Italian woman stranded in apartment with husband's body for 2 days thanks to quarantine rules

A woman in Borghetto Santo Spirito in Italy's Savona province has been stuck in her apartment with her husband's dead body for the last two days due to strict quarantine regime that has been clamped in the country in the wake of coronavirus breakout.

The woman is not being allowed to leave the apartment or perform the funeral service of her husband, who died of Covid-19 late Monday night.

"The man, who had tested positive for the deadly virus, died on Monday night," CNN quoted Giancarlo Canepa, mayor of Borghetto Santo Spirito, as saying.

He added, "Yes, it is true she is still there with the body and we won't be able to remove it until Wednesday morning."

No one is allowed to touch the body due to quarantine procedures. Canepa added that the man had refused to be taken to a local hospital for recovery after he developed symptoms of coronavirus infection.

The story surfaced when reports about a woman trapped with her husband's dead body inside an apartment started making rounds in the region.

Local television station IVG.IT posted video interviews with the woman's neighbours who had just found out that death had occurred.

According to CNN, the man's family members are desperate to get his body while his widow has been crying and shouting for help from the apartment's balcony.

Italy has been put under a complete lockdown after cases of coronavirus spiked in the country. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced the countrywide restrictions, which earlier were only restricted to northern Italy.

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control said that coronavirus has reached all countries of Europe.

As per the World Health Organisation (WHO), the novel coronavirus belongs to the family of zoonotic viruses that spread from animals to humans.

The symptoms of Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, include running cold, sneezes and cough, and in severe cases respiratory problems, shortness of breath, kidney failure or even death.

The deadly virus which originated in Wuhan, China, has affected more than 105 counties and has infected more than 115,000 people globally with nearly 4,000 deaths.