As the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in Europe, Italy is in dire straits, with thousands of new cases being confirmed each day. And no city in the region has been hit harder than Milan. Now, to help provide much-needed care those most affected by the outbreak, Prada has just donated six intensive care units to Milan hospitals.
On Monday, the Italian fashion house announced that co-CEOs Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli have donated two ICU units to three different hospitals in the city of 1.4 million. Milan, Italy’s fashion capital, has been hit particularly hard by Covid-19, as has the country’s northern Lombardy region.
Prada’s statement announcing the news was uncharacteristically short and to the point, stating simply that the company’s co-CEOs “have donated two complete intensive care and resuscitation units each to Milan’s hospitals of Vittore Buzzi, Sacco and San Raffaele.”
Miuccia Prada and Patrizio Bertelli Vincent Yu/AP/Shutterstock
The terse tone of the release reflects the scope and severity of the outbreak in Italy. As of press time, some 2,158 people have died of the virus inside the country, and there are now 27,980 confirmed cases, according to Reuters. That gives the Mediterranean country the most cases outside of China, where the virus is believed to have originated. Because of this, the Italian government plans to promote 10,000 student doctors, according to the wire service. The medical students will have their final exams waved and will be rushed into the service so they can reinforce a health system that has been pushed past its breaking point.
Prada isn’t the only Italian fashion house that has pitched in to help the fight against Covid-19. Last week, Giorgio Armani donated more than $1.5 million to the fight, while Donatella Versaci pledged $220,000 and Chiara Ferragni gave $110,000 and helped raise $4.4 million through GoFundMe. The effort hasn’t been limited to Italian figures and companies either. LVMH, which had already donated $2.3 million to the Red Cross of China, announced over the weekend that it would use its perfume factories to start manufacturing hand sanitizer in response to the outbreak.
