THE cemetery in Italy's coronavirus epicentre Lombardy has been emptied of virus victims' coffins for the first time in 40 days after over a month of being packed full of caskets.
Giorgio Gori, the Mayor of the city of Bergamo in northern Italy’s Lombardy region, shared a photo of the cemetery’s church completely empty as a sign of hope for the city as the country's deaths dropped to their lowest in a week.
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Gori said the church has been used to store the coffins of coronavirus patients for more than 40 days, but it is now empty for the first time since the coronavirus crisis exploded.
He said: “The news I can give you today is finally positive, in these weeks there has been a decrease in the infections and deaths (from coronavirus).
"The image of the church from the cemetery that was occupied by the coffins of many of our neighbours gives us the idea that we have gone through the most difficult phase and we can keep on having hope."
The mayor said the situation “has almost gone back to normality” and “four hotels are still hosting patients” who had been discharged from hospitals.
He added: “We said that we could beat the virus and it seems it is happening.”
Gomi said that from March 1 until Easter the city suffered over 600 deaths, but thanked citizens for staying indoors.
It comes as Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte revealed the country's lockdown plan would be shared at the end of this week.
In a Facebook post he wrote Italy cannot give up their hard line of "maximum caution" and the lockdown exit will be executed with "serious scientific policy".
Mr Conte added: "I would like to be able to say, let's open everything. Right away.
"But such a decision would be irresponsible.
"It would make the contagion curve rise uncontrollably and would jeopardise all the efforts that we've made until now.
"The easing of measures must take place on the basis of a well-structured and articulated plan."
On Monday, figures showed the number of infections had dropped for the first time since the outbreak began.
And the country's lowest death toll in a week was recorded Monday.
Italy’s quarantine regulations are expected to be eased on May 4, with citizens possibly being allowed to do exercise outdoors.
The mayor said they did not publish photos of the church filled with coffins in respect for the grieving families of the victims.
According to the latest figures from the Johns Hopkins University, Italy has registered 181,228 cases of COVID-19 and 24,114 deaths.
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