Italy closes investigation alleging COVID lockdown failures

By COLLEEN BARRY
Associated Press

MILAN (AP) — Italian prosecutors have closed a COVID-19 investigation that accuses officials of wrongdoing for failing to extend a lockdown zone in the early days of the pandemic to the northern city of Bergamo and adjacent industrial valleys. Prosecutor Antonio Chiappani told Radio 24 on Thursday that “our aim was to reconstruct what happened and give a response to the population of Bergamo and surroundings.” The case now goes to a magistrate in Bergamo to decide whether to indict more than a dozen suspects identified by prosecutors. They include then Premier Giuseppe Conte, a former health minister and Lombardy’s regional governor. The was formally closed on Wednesday,