Roma players donate money to hospital in coronavirus fight

Italian football club Roma has extended its support to fight the coronavirus outbreak in the country and decided to buy three intensive care ventilators and eight new intensive care beds for a hospital in Rome.

"After discussing the critical situation in Italy, which on Thursday overtook China for the most coronavirus fatalities in the world, the club's first team players and coaching staff unanimously agreed to each donate a day's salary to AS Roma's campaign, on top of any individual contributions that many of them have already made," the club said in a statement.

Their joint donation - which totals more than 200,000 euros - now means that Roma's fundraising campaign, unveiled a week ago, currently stands at 460,000 euros- and is within touching distance of the pre-launch target of 500,000 euros.

With Lazzaro Spallanzani Hospital in Rome, one of the most important specialist hospitals in Italy in the nationwide fight against the COVID-19, now absolutely desperate for new equipment, Roma has agreed to immediately use a proportion of the funds to order three intensive care ventilators, five pulmonary ventilators for sub-intensive care and eight new intensive care beds.

"At such a difficult time for humanity, feeling the tangible support of the Roma Cares Foundation fills us with pride and gives us the positivity we need to face up to the hard work we have ahead of us," said Marta Branca, director-general of the Lazzaro Spallanzani National Institute of Infectious Diseases.

"Doctors and nurses have been working hard to fight and contain the disease, but it's important and necessary that we have the support of everyone," Branca added.

On Tuesday, Roma delivered 13,000 FFP2 masks to hospitals in the city, along with 120 500ml bottles of hand sanitizer.

Following on from that, on Thursday the club and Roma Cares delivered a total of 8,000 pairs of protective gloves and 2,000 bottles of sanitising hand gel to churches in key parts of the Italian capital - to be redistributed among the vulnerable in their communities.

There has been no sport in Italy since March 9 as a result of the spread of COVID-19, with the Serie A initially going behind closed doors before the shut down occurred.

Major football attractions of Europe, Premier League, Champions League, Euro Cup, Europe League, LaLiga, FA Cup, and various domestic competitions have been cancelled or postponed due to the outbreak.