Coronavirus patients, families exchange virtual kisses in Italy hospital By Reuters

By Flavio Lo Scalzo and Alex Fraser

CERNUSCO SUL NAVIGLIO, Italy (Reuters) – It is just a kiss blown over a video call on a computer tablet to a loved one miles away.

But to elderly patients suffering from the coronavirus in the Uboldo Hospital in this northern Italian town, it is as much of a lifeline as their oxygen masks.

Doctors up and down Italy, the country with the most deaths from the pandemic, say one of the hardest things for patients is not being able to have their loved ones by their side because of quarantine restrictions.

“From a psychological point of view, this certainly is the worst aspect of this emergency,” said the hospital’s chief anaesthetist, Dr. Massimo Zambon.

So, Zambon and his colleagues are using tablets donated by the city and private citizens to ease the pain of distance and…