ANDREA BOCELLI UNHAPPY ON LOCKDOWN

Opera star Andrea Bocelli attacked Italy's lockdown measures during a conference about the coronavirus pandemic with politicians and experts at Rome's Giovanni Spadolini library on Monday.

The 61-year old tenor said he "felt humiliated and offended" after he "got deprived" of his "freedom of going out without having committed any crime," according to Euronews.

He also confessed to having flouted lockdown rules, saying: "It didn't seem right and healthy to remain home, to me."

"I need the sun," he added.

Bocelli also cast doubts on the "gravity" of the coronavirus pandemic.

"I know a lot of people, but I haven't known anybody who ended up in intensive care. Nobody," he said. The singer added that his sons criticised him for his opinion on the matter, telling him to concentrate on opera instead.

But Bocelli's statement prompted criticism from some experts.

"It hasn't got any scientific basis. It's an inappropriate message with evident elements of danger," the head of infectious diseases at the University of Milan Massimo Galli told Italian news agency ANSA.