More than £6m raised to help Italy's overwhelmed hospitals fight coronavirus

More than £6 million has been raised to help overwhelmed hospitals in Italy fight the coronavirus outbreak. ​

In what has become the largest ever crowdfunding campaign on GoFundMe in Europe, €7.2 million (£6.4 million) has been raised to help Italy's hospitals.

One page is aiming to triple the number of beds at a Milanese hospital in the centre of the country’s outbreak and another has brought in €3.7 million single-handedly.

It comes as Italy is weathering the worst outbreak of Covid-19 in Europe, with the whole country on lockdown and most shops and restaurants closed.

More than 12,000 people have tested positive for the virus in Italy, and 827 people have died.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organisation officially declared the coronavirus outbreak a pandemic.

One fundraiser, launched by Italian social media stars Chiara Ferragni and Fedez, has raised almost €4 million (£3.5 million) on its own.

The description for the crowdfunder states: ”In this really difficult phase for our country we can also do something to support our communities.

“Doctors and scientists are doing a very important job and we would like to help support them.

“For this reason, we thought of helping the intensive care unit at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan.

"At this moment the equipment necessary to triple the intensive and subintensive care beds are: Fans, Non invasive ventilation devices, Hemodynamic monitoring, Monitor. Even a small donation can make a difference.

“We are in close contact with the doctors of the San Raffaele hospital in Milan. The funds raised will be directly donated to the hospital to strengthen intensive care.”

According to GoFundMe, at the busiest times €45 (£40) was being donated every second.

There have been at least 329,000 donations from as many as 117 countries to the Italian campaigns, with more than 800 different pages running.

The platform GoFundMe has donated €10,000 (£8,800) of its own money to the cause, and will not be receiving any money from the drives.

A spokesman for the company said: “This is the largest fundraising effort we've seen on GoFundMe in Europe to date, with hundreds of campaigns raising more than €7.2 million in just hours.

“What Italy is going through is incredibly difficult but it’s amazing to see people in Italy, Europe and across the globe come together to help."