Following three months of activities in Italy, we have now completed and closed our COVID-19 responses in the Lodi area and Marche region. Our interventions in Rome and in detention centres in Lombardy, Piedmont and Liguria will continue until the end of June.
More than 50 MSF staff were involved in our COVID-19 response in Lodi and Marche, assisting in three hospitals and close to 50 homes for the elderly. Our teams trained more than 500 health workers on infection prevention and control procedures and conducted mental health support sessions.
In the detention centres, we have designed procedures to identify and verify suspected cases in new detainees and to trace the contacts of confirmed cases, to help protect detainees, jail workers and police officers from the COVID-19 virus.
In Rome, our focus has been the most vulnerable communities in the suburbs. Along with the local health authority and non-governmental organisation Médecins du Monde, MSF will be introducing new health promotion activities in informal living settlements, including a telephone helpline service. The helpline will be staffed by doctors and intercultural mediators to support community needs, with a particular objective on identifying and assisting COVID-19 patients.
In Sicily we continue to assist with contract tracing for COVID-19 patients.