The Italian government is poised to introduce tough new measures to try and stop the spread of coronavirus, including telling people not to enter or leave the hardest-hit region of Lombardy, according to a draft decree.
So far, limited areas of northern Italy – known as “red zones” – have been quarantined.
But the draft legislation tells people not to travel out of or inside Lombardy – the country’s wealthiest and most populous region, which includes the financial capital Milan.
Another 15 provinces in other regions are also covered in the document which is expected to be approved in the coming hours.
Those include Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia and Rimini in the region of Emilia-Romagna; Venice, Padua and Treviso in the region of Veneto; Asti and Alessandria in Piedmont; and the province of Pesaro and Urbino in the central region of Marche.
The decree instructs citizens to “absolutely avoid” either entering or leaving the areas listed, and even to avoid moving around other than for emergencies or “essential work reasons” within the designated areas.
Cafes and restaurants will be allowed to stay open as long as a distance of one meter between customers can be guaranteed.
Schools will be closed until at least 3 April in all areas covered by the decree – including towns in Emilia-Romagna, Veneto and Piedmont.
Museums, gyms and swimming pools will also close and holiday is cancelled for all health care workers, according to the decree which has been seen by Reuters news agency.
The country has seen its number of infections rise by more than 1, in the last hours and has reported the second highest number of fatalities at .
:: Listen to the Daily podcast on Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , Spotify , Spreaker
In other developments:
- The Vatican says Pope Francis will not give his Sunday address from a window overlooking St Peter’s Square and it will instead be streamed online from inside the Vatican
- A former passenger (non-Japanese male) of the Diamond Princess cruise ship who tested positive for coronavirus has died, says Japanese public broadcaster NHK, taking the ship’s death toll to seven
- the leader of Italy’s co- ruling Democratic Party, Nicola Zingaretti, tests positive for COVID –
- The lender Intesa Sanpaolo says it is ready. to donate up to € m to Italy to tackle the outbreak and gran t up to € 5bn in loans to affected firms
- Iran says there have been 1, 11 new coronavirus cases and a further 24 People have died after contracting the virus, taking the total number of deaths in the country to and cases to 5, 01575879 (South Korea reports ) new cases which takes its total to 7, The number of people to test positive for COVID – (in Germany rises by) overnight to 700, and by in the Netherlands to
- Malta reports its first case: a 12 – year-old Italian girl who lives on island
- the first Cambodian tests positive for the virus
- Americans are quarantined in a Bethlehem hotel over coronavirus fears
- Cases are up from to in the United Arab Emirates, its health ministry says
- Globally, the number of coronavirus cases has passed , and there have been more than 3, 448 deaths worldwide
- Read Mo re
- Malta reports its first case: a 12 – year-old Italian girl who lives on island
- Iran says there have been 1, 11 new coronavirus cases and a further 24 People have died after contracting the virus, taking the total number of deaths in the country to and cases to 5, 01575879 (South Korea reports ) new cases which takes its total to 7, The number of people to test positive for COVID – (in Germany rises by) overnight to 700, and by in the Netherlands to
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings