A priest blesses the coffin of a woman who died from coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Seriate, Italy on Mar 28, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Flavio Lo Scalzo) 

MILAN: It took Silvia Bertuletti 11 days of frantic phone calls to persuade a doctor to visit her 78-year-old father Alessandro, who was gripped by fever and struggling for breath.