Italy has a world-class health system. The coronavirus has pushed it to the breaking point. nbcnews.to/3a60eOP (1/6) #NBCNewsThreads
More than 2,500 people have died in about 4 weeks in Italy. With over 31,500 confirmed cases, the country's doctors and nurses are struggling to keep up. They're running out of beds, equipment and even people, as more health care workers catch the virus. (2/6)
"I have never seen so many people die together before my eyes," says a nurse from one of the main hospitals in Bergamo, a city in northern Italy. nbcnews.to/3a60eOP (3/6) 
Northern Italy has emerged as a warning about what can happen even in a region that is considered to have one of the most proficient public health care systems in the world, and even after the country took drastic measures to try to contain the spread of the virus. (4/6)
Nearly 13,000 of Italy's coronavirus patients are hospitalized with symptoms, and of those, more than 2,000 are under intensive medical care. Some doctors and experts in Italy have been outspoken in hope that other countries will learn from their experience. (5/6)
"The quicker you close a country and reduce social contact the better," one expert says, “The only effective mechanism is to introduce a constraint to make people stay home.” nbcnews.to/3bcTqzl (6/6)
