Italy: Salvini decries investigation into hospitals' handling of coronavirus outbreak

*NO CUTAWAYS AT SOURCE*
SOT, Matteo Salvini, League leader (Italian): "I can only bring what his the thought of a British citizen I had a chat with, and in his opinion - which I share - someone is capable of defending the national interests, and someone else is not."
SOT, Matteo Salvini, League leader (Italian): "Someone is capable of defending the interests, the health and public economy, someone else a little less. Clearly, if you go around the Italian TV for three days issuing warnings, whoever is watching TV between 6:00 in the morning and 02:00 in the night will believe the alarm. I'm not sure Macron and Merkel acted the same way, I guess no."
SOT, Matteo Salvini, League leader (Italian): "If there had been a problem in a French or German hospital, I don't think that the French prime minister or the German chancellor would have pointed the finger at the French or German doctors blaming them as potentially responsible."
SCRIPT
League Party leader Matteo Salvini voiced his concern about the launch of an investigation into the internal procedures adopted in some hospitals dealing with the coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy. The remarks came as the far-right politician spoke at a press conference in Rome, on Wednesday.
"If there had been a problem in a French or German hospital, I don't think that the French prime minister or the German chancellor would have pointed the finger at the French or German doctors," he said.
The comments were made as the public prosecutor in the northern city of Lodi opened an investigation to determine what protocols were adopted in the hospitals which handed the first coronavirus cases.
On Monday, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the disease had spread because safety protocols were not respected by one hospital, sparking controversy and prompting a harsh response by Lombardy governor, Attilio Fontana.
Cases of the virus, known as COVID-19, have surged in Italy in recent days, with 400 confirmed cases, the highest number in Europe, mainly in the densely populated northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto - where the cities of Milan and Venice are located respectively -and eleven deaths, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).