Update, 12 March 2020: Shortly after this article was published, Italy announced new measures at 9:45pm on Wednesday 11 March, closing all cafes and restaurants for two weeks. But our reporter says the mood on the ground in Turin, on Thursday morning, hadn't changed much.
The handwritten yellow sign on the pharmacy’s window – “masks and hand gel out of stock” – has been up for weeks. But now there are many more signs, on shop doors, telling customers that only a few people can enter at a time, and that they must remain a metre apart. Many shops are shuttered entirely.
