Italy's economic capital Milan is a virus time “bomb” at risk of erupting with residents now free to move around — some gathering for canal-side cocktails — after two months under a pandemic lockdown, AFP reported.

The region's capital Milan, is “a bit of a bomb,” said Massimo Galli, the head of the infectious diseases department at the renowned Sacco hospital in Milan.

“We have a very high number of infected people returning to circulation,” he said in an interview with the Repubblica newspaper, referring to the easing of lockdown measures on May 4.