Lockdown diary: 'Our civic sense is the only thing that can save us'

''It never ends, it never ends and nobody knows how long it will last," 35-year-old teacher Marzio Tonilo says.

He is now on coronavirus lockdown with the rest of the country.

Francesca Lynagh reports.

(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) PRIMARY SCHOOLTEACHER, MARZIO TONIOLO, 35, SAYING (SOUNDBITE STARTS ON SHOT OF TONIOLO OPENING WINDOW, CONTINUES AND ENDS ON SHOT OF TONIOLO'S WIFE, CHIARA ZUDDAS, AND DAUGHTER, BIANCA TONIOLO, SEATED IN GARDEN): "Now that it's better to stay at home or to limit our travels, they are havinga picnic out there today." Marzio Toniolo's two-year-old daughter, Bianca, now plays with her dolls in the garden rather than with her friends in the park.

The whole family has now been in lockdown for 18 days.

Their hometown of San Fiorano was in Italy's original red zone.

Now lockdown has been extended to the entire country after authorities confirmed over 9,172 cases of coronavirus and 463 deaths as of Monday (March 9) (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) PRIMARY SCHOOLTEACHER, MARZIO TONIOLO, 35, SAYING (SOUNDBITE STARTS, CONTINUES AND ENDS ON SHOT OF TONIOLO SPEAKING INSIDE CAR): "Even my grandmother is having a difficult time because now more people are dying.

So she is worried...even if she doesn't say it." Toniolo's father lives in Sardinia, but got stuck unexpectedly while visiting his son.

(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) PRIMARY SCHOOLTEACHER, MARZIO TONIOLO, 35, SAYING (SOUNDBITE STARTS, CONTINUES AND ENDS ON SHOT OF TONIOLO SPEAKING INSIDE CAR): "In my house there's my father who can't take it anymore, he's in a black crisis, he's in a really bad state of mind because he would like to go back to his house but at the same time he has a high civic sense and therefore he would never run away.

He has not done it before and he would never do it now, however, he has his partner down there, he has his life down there, his other loved ones besides us, so it is really hard for him.

He's having a bad time so me, my wife and daughter are trying to stay close to him." The Toniolo family, and millions of others like them, are facing at least three more weeks of lockdown.

The imposed measures are some of the most severe in a Western country since the Second World War.

But some health experts say the country's lockdown is probably unsustainable.

(SOUNDBITE) (Italian) PRIMARY SCHOOLTEACHER, MARZIO TONIOLO, 35, SAYING (SOUNDBITE STARTS, CONTINUES AND ENDS ON SHOT OF TONIOLO SPEAKING INSIDE CAR): "I repeat it, we are the only medicine to all this, our civic sense is the only thing that can save us."