As Italy is in the middle of its second week of a Coronavirus lockdown, something beautiful is happening in the Venice canals.
Footage of clear waters -- something that few claim to have seen in their lifetime -- are popping up on social media. Dolphins are swimming through the waterways, while ducks and swans make their way around a peaceful scene untouched by motorboats or gondolas full of tourists.
Hold your horses, the mayor's office told CNN. Just because you can see fish and wildlife doesn't mean the water has been heavily polluted.
"The water now looks clearer because there is less traffic on the canals, allowing the sediment to stay at the bottom," a spokesman for the Venice mayor's office said. "It's because there is less boat traffic that usually brings sediment to the top of the water's surface."
The air quality? Well, that's quite another thing.
The spokesperson told CNN that thanks to the mandatory quarantine, the air is "less polluted since there are less vaporetti and boat traffic than usual because of the restricted movement of residents."
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte may extend the lockdown past April 3 depending on how the infection tracks, according to Bloomberg News.
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