It’s a mistake to think all positive Covid tests are the same

Italy was the first country in Europe to implement lockdown, so what can we learn from the country’s attempt to impose restrictions to stamp out Covid-19? And what does Italy’s experience of finding a path out of lockdown teach Britain as it emerges out of lockdown itself?

Ten towns in the province of Lodi, Lombardy, and one town in Veneto were designated areas or ‘red zones’ on 23 February 2020: two days after the first Covid-19 death and three days after the identification of the first autochthonous case of Covid-19 (i.e.