Lockdown diary: After 10 weeks, northern Italian family can't imagine life outside

Marzio Toniolo's family live in one of the cluster of small northern Italian towns that were put under lockdown when an outbreak of the coronavirus took hold in February, more than two weeks before the rest of the country.

"We got used to this situation...it's strange to think about of going back step by step to the life we were used to," Toniolo said speaking from his house's garden that, during lockdown, has become a playground for his daughter Bianca.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Thursday (April 30) he would gradually relax the country's coronavirus lockdown taking into account differences in contagion levels in different parts of the country.

The lockdown imposed on March 9 will be gradually rolled back from May 4 and agreed with local authorities so Toniolo is looking towards the so-called 'phase two' with great optimism, even if he lives in the northern region of Lombardy, which has borne the brunt of Italy's contagion.

Italy closed all schools and universities and took other emergency measures on March 4 to try to slow the spread of the new coronavirus.

But for those already in a locked down red zone nothing has really changed, apart from the fact that time seems to have stood still.

Toniolo has tried his best to keep up teaching his primary school pupils with remote learning on laptops - something that is now being practiced by students and teachers all over the world.

But he's keen to go back to his primary school in nearby Santo Stefano Lodigiano.

Toniolo's family, which includes his wife Chiara Zuddas, daughter Bianca and grandparents Gino Verani and Ines Prandini, are carrying on with their daily - and adapted - routines.

And family friends too.

Deaths from the COVID-19 epidemic in Italy since the outbreak came to light on Feb.

21 now stands at 27,967, the Civil Protection Agency said on Thursday, the second highest in the world after that of the United States.