Italy prosecutors to quiz PM Giuseppe Conte on COVID-19 crisis

Rome: Prosecutors from northern Italy will question Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Friday after relatives of COVID-19 victims demanded an inquiry into alleged government negligence into the crisis.

The prosecutors have travelled to Rome from Bergamo, the city near Milan worst hit by coronavirus before the whole country was put under a lockdown in March, the BBC reported.

Fifty legal complaints were filed on Thursday at the Bergamo prosecutor's office by a citizens' group called 'Noi Denunceremo' (We Will Report).

The group consists of relatives of the coronavirus victims, who have said that two Lombardy towns - Alzano and Nembro - should have been declared "red zones" as soon as the outbreaks were detected there.

Lombardy was where the virus first started spreading in Europe and more than half the victims in Italy died in the region.

As of Friday, Italy, one of the worst-hit countries in the world, has registered 236,142 COVID-19 cases with 34,167 deaths.