Coronavirus: Tensions flare over virus-hit 'ghetto' in southern Italy

Italy sent fresh riot police reinforcements on Friday to secure a council estate in its southern virus "red zone", where nearly 50 cases of new coronavirus cases among foreign farm workers has sparked tensions with locals on Thursday.

Some 700 people were ordered to remain indoors this week in the complex of five blocks of flats in Mondragone, 60 km north of Naples, for 15 days, while local health authorities test them for the virus, the region's head, Mr Vincenzo De Luca, said late on Thursday.

The local health authorities said 43 positive cases had been identified and tests were being carried out on all the residents.

Four of the high-rise blocks house undocumented Bulgarian workers who feared losing their jobs, while Italian squatters occupy the fifth, Mr De Luca said.

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