The governor of Veneto, one of the regions worst hit by an outbreak in Italy of coronavirus, apologized on Saturday for criticising China over the contagion and saying Chinese people "eat live mice."
Luca Zaia has pinned the blame on China for the flare-up in Italy, which has led to at least 21 deaths, saying that unlike Italians, the Chinese did not have good standards of hygiene.
"The hygiene that our people, the Venetians and the Italian citizens have, the cultural training we have, is that of taking a shower, of washing, of washing one's hands often," Zaia said in a Antenna 3-Nord Est TV television interview on Friday.