The Italian government threatened on Wednesday to ban all outdoor exercise as the coronavirus death toll soared to 2,978 and frustration grew over the number of people defying a nationwide lockdown order. Italy was the first Western country to impose severe restrictions on movement to contain the illness. But a week after the curbs were imposed, the disease is still spreading and hospitals in the north are at breaking point. The northern region of Lombardy, on the frontline of the battle against the respiratory pandemic, asked recently retired health workers on Wednesday to return to work and help colleagues overwhelmed by the crisis. “I make a heartfelt appeal to all the doctors, nurses and medical personnel who have retired in the last two years…to help us in this emergency,” regional Governor Attilio Fontana told a news conference. The national death toll surged by 475 over the […]