The Italian army will start patrolling Italian streets amid the coronavirus emergency, as local authorities scramble to monitor the almost-total lockdown imposed nationally to mitigate the spread of the virus, reported Anadolu Agency.

On Friday, Lombardy Governor Attilio Fontana obtained the help of military forces on the streets of Milan, Italy’s financial hub, and one of the cities worst-hit by the epidemic.

Other regions, including the southern Campania, Puglia and Sicily, had already obtained the go-ahead for the use of military forces in addition to the police.

Up to 20,000 soldiers are ready to “do their part”, said Italy’s Defence Minister Lorenzo Guerini, who has confirmed the army’s availability to help to handle an extraordinary emergency, as it is already doing on the sanitary front.

Italian hospitals and clinics are overwhelmed by thousands of patients in serious conditions, with intensive care units close to the point of saturation, especially in the north.

Earlier this week, in the city of Bergamo -- where the number of deaths is rising so fast that authorities and churches do not have enough space to cremate and bury the bodies -- a long convoy of military trucks loaded with coffins drove at night along the city’s deserted streets to transport the corpses to other cities.

In Milan, 114 military units will be assigned to the hard task of avoiding citizens’ infractions, still surging despite the lockdown imposed by the Italian government, while the number of confirmed cases in the country continues to grow.

Italy’s death toll on Thursday rose above 3,400, surpassing China -- where the lethal virus was originated. Lombardy, the epicentre of the emergency, counts alone 2,168 victims.

-- BERNAMA