Giving Compass' Take:

• Elisa Oddone investigates coronavirus' exacerbating effects on deteriorating conditions for Italy's migrants, who face an increasing lack of food and work.

• With the world scrambling to address the impact of COVID-19, many already vulnerable communities find themselves further marginalized. How can you support vulnerable communities like Italy's migrants?

• Learn more about why donors should increase their giving during coronavirus.

On what used to be a vast complex of illegally built apartment blocks and holiday homes on the Mediterranean shore, Castel Volturno is today a run-down no-man's-land stretching along Italy's ancient Via Domiziana coastal road in the southern Campania region.

Under Italy's lockdown, Castel Volturno's battered streets are deserted, with only a few sporadic gatherings near post offices, relegating the struggle for the survival of its most vulnerable citizens to within the four walls of their homes.

"National laws were deliberated in such a way over the past decades to relegate these people to the margins of society and criminalise them," says Fatima Maiga, a member of aid group Italiani Senza Cittadinanza (Italians Without Citizenship). "Migrants have stayed in southern Italy, and especially in places like Castel Volturno, because the area offers them a chance to escape checks."

Aid group representatives operating here have joined the town's mayor in warning about a "ticking bomb" and a "bubble of desperation" ready to burst as people now under lockdown are prevented from earning their usual daily living.

As the national emergency continues, Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte put 4.3 billion euros ($4.7bn) at the disposal of the country's local mayors to deal with citizens' needs, along with another 400 million euros ($438m) in a special fund for people who lack the funds for their basic food shopping.

Castel Volturno obtained 270,000 euros ($295,000) from the national emergency food package, but limited access to its official residents, thus leaving thousands outside the official food programme. The deadline for requesting food vouchers expired on Tuesday, while many in the migrant communities here were still wondering what the initiative was all about.

Read the full article about COVID-19 and conditions for Italy's migrants by Elisa Oddone at Al Jazeera.