Residents of an Italian seaside resort have called for a state of emergency as locals and tourists "can't open windows". Orbetello in southern Tuscany has been infiltrated by a swarm of midges for the past three weeks, according to the Associated Press, leaving people reportedly unable to walk in the open air. 

More than 23,000 people have signed a petition asking the President of the region, Eugenio Giani, to declare a state of emergency about the mosquito invasion. The petition, organised by citizen of Orbetello, Alessio Segoni, reads: "We can't walk in the open air. We can't open the windows. We are isolated at home." Last Thursday, the town council agreed to allocate £250,962 (€300,000) for interventions, but the petition criticised the solutions so far as "insufficient". 

Local fishermen believe the swarm is due to a decline in fry, the main predators of midge larvae, which is thought to be caused by a drop in oxygen levels in the coastal ecosystem.

Because the town faces a peninsula, water exchanges between the lagoon and the Tyrrhenian Sea are limited, which have added to the problem. 

The petition read: "The growing support for this petition is proof of how critical and unsustainable the situation is for the inhabitants of Orbetello, who believe that the answers and solutions proposed so far by those who should solve the problem are insufficient."

It asked for a "support plan for citizens, businesses and tourism operators, since, even if there are no direct health risks, the proliferation of chironomids is putting the tourism and local economy at risk, with serious social and economic consequences".

They have called for an immediate commissioner to be put in place with powers to deal with the emergency and sustainably manage the Orbetello Lagoon, to cover an operational gap until a Lagoon Consortium is formed. 

The emergency plan should include targeted treatments and "scientifically validated containment strategies", and an environmental remediation plan for the lagoon to address the root cause, according to the petition.