Italy marks 2nd anniversary of haunting COVID-19 milestone

By NICOLE WINFIELD
Associated Press

ROME (AP) — Italy is marking the second anniversary of a tragic milestone of the coronavirus pandemic. It was the day when a convoy of army trucks had to transport the dead out of hard-hit Bergamo because the city’s cemeteries and crematoria were full. The Health Ministry called for Italians to observe a minute of silence and President Sergio Mattarella paid tribute to those who died. The city of Bergamo held a commemoration at its living memorial to COVID’s victims: a park of newly planted trees. Italy became the epicenter of the outbreak in Europe after the first locally-transmitted case was confirmed in late February 2020 in the Lombard city of Codogno. But nearby Bergamo soon became the hardest-hit province in the hardest-hit region.