WATCH: Lock down measures see DRONES patrol streets in Italian town

Drones are being deployed on the streets in Italy as authorities monitor more than 60 million people who are living under lockdown conditions as the mediterranean country grapples with a rampant coronavirus outbreak.

Footage from the picturesque Lombardy town of Desenzano del Garda shows police and civil protection personnel parading through the streets with loudspeakers urging people to stay in their homes. Drones can be seen whirring above the ominous scene, as the masked operatives carry out their grim procession.

“Citizens, the current state of emergency requires us not to move from home unless absolutely necessary. Do not crowd the city and stay in your home. Give up what is not of primary necessity and make this sacrifice,” the loudspeaker message instructs.

The town has already seen at least 15 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and dozens of people have been placed in self-isolation, local newspaper I Dolomiti reports.

Italian authorities say the illness has claimed over 1,000 lives in Italy, with the death toll and the number of confirmed cases dramatically spiking this week. 

The entire country has been placed on lockdown, with movement restricted to urgent medical or professional need. People who break the rules face sanctions, including fines and criminal charges. All shops and business have been shut, except grocery stores and pharmacies.

Health officials say it could take two weeks for the restrictions on peoples’ lives to have an effect on the spread of the virus, which is still spreading outside of the initial red zone in the north of the country.

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