Yesterday, Italy reported a devastating 368 deaths in just 24 hours. In the wake of such news, the fashion community is responding quickly, starting with LVMH, which halted production on perfume and cosmetics to instead dedicate its factories to making hand sanitiser. And today, Patrizio Bertelli and Miuccia Prada, the co-CEOs of Milan-based fashion company Prada, donated six Intensive Care Units, or ICUs, to three separate hospitals in Milan: San Raffaele, Sacco, and Vittore Buzzi, the last of which is a children’s hospital.
Italian influencer Chiara Ferragni and her husband Fedez also made a donation to the cause. Last Monday, the couple donated 100,000 euros to San Raffaele hospital to go towards providing more beds for patients in the ICU through a GoFundMe set up by the hospital’s head of cardiovascular and general intensive care units. After Ferragni posted the donation page’s link on her Instagram page — which boasts 18.8 million followers — Dr. Zangrillo’s GoFundMe raised over 4,198,860 euros and counting.
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Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani donated 1.25 million euros to Milanese hospitals, including Luigi Sacco, San Raffaele, and the Istituto dei Tumori, as well as the Istituto Lazzaro Spallanzani in Rome. A portion of his donation will also support Italy’s civil defence otherwise known as the Protezione Civile, according to WWD. Donatella Versace and her daughter followed suit, donating 200,000 euros to San Raffaele on March 13. “This is when we, as a society, need to stand together and care for one another,” the mother-daughter duo said in a statement. In February, the Italian fashion house contributed 1 million renminbi, equivalent to about $143,400, to the Chinese Red Cross Foundation.
Vice reported yesterday that Italy’s civil protection chief put the total number of cases in the country at 24,747, with 3,590 just diagnosed yesterday. As the number of infected people increases, so too does the need for beds and medical supplies in hospitals, making these donations increasingly important to treating COVID-19 in Italy, one of the epicentres of the global pandemic.
The World Health Organization says you can protect yourself by washing your hands, covering your mouth when sneezing or coughing (ideally with a tissue), avoid touching your eyes, nose and mouth and don't get too close to people who are coughing, sneezing or with a fever. If you suspect you have the symptoms of COVID-19 you should call NHS 111 and stay indoors.
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