Coronavirus: Northern Italy to 'quarantine 16 million people' – BBC News, BBC News

        

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Italy is set to lock down at least 21 million people in the region of Lombardy and in 19 other provinces in the north and east of the country.

The mandatory quarantine will last until early April.

The Dramatic escalation in the country’s efforts to contain the new deadly coronavirus will close gyms, pools, museums and ski resorts.

Italy is Europe’s worst-hit country and reported a steep rise in virus infections on Saturday.

The new measures, which also apply to financial center Milan and tourist hotspot Venice, could take effect as early as Sunday and will last until 3 April .

The death toll in Italy has passed , with officials reporting more than 76 deaths in hours. The number of confirmed cases jumped by more than 1, to 5, on Saturday.

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The measures published in a draft government decree were obtained by Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

They are set to be signed in the coming hours, reports the BBC’s Mark Lowen.

The whole northern region of Lombardy, home to million people and Italy’s financial center Milan, will be closed off except to emergency access, and provinces including Venice, Parma and Modena will be affected – a total of (million people.) (Until now around) , 16 people in northern Italy had been affected by quarantine measures.

What are the measures?

Night clubs, gyms, swimming pools, museums and ski resorts will be closed. .

Restaurants and cafes can open but customers must sit at least a meter apart.

People will be told to stay home as much as possible, and those who break the quarantine could face three months in jail.

Sports competitions will close to the public, and the president of Italy’s football players’ union has called for all football to stop.

The World Health Organization has advised Italy to strongly focus on virus containment measures as infections spread in the country.

The plans echo China’s forced quarantine of millions of people which the WHO has praised for halting the spread of the virus.

Leading Italian politician Nicola Zingaretti said on Saturday he had tested positive for the virus.

“I am fine but I will have to stay hom e for the next few days, “the leader of Italy’s center-left Democratic Party (PD) said in a Facebook post.

The country has said it will start recruiting retired doctors in an effort to combat the escalating outbreak.

Elsewhere, Iran has confirmed almost 6, (infections and) (deaths, and the number of cases worldwide has passed 188, , officials say.

A second MP was reportedly among those to have died in Iran, where health officials fear the number of cases may actually be much higher.

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                       

There have so far been nearly 3, coronavirus deaths recorded worldwide. The majority have been in China, where the virus originated in December.

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has called the spread of the virus “deeply concerning” and urged all countries to make containment “their highest priority”.

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In other developments:

A hotel used as

a coronavirus quarantine facility in the Chinese city of Quanzhou collapsed

South America records its first coronavirus death, as a the year-old man dies in Argentina

Pope Francis is to deliver Sunday’s Angelus Prayer by livestream to avoid the usual crowds forming

A cruise ship with 3, (passengers and crew is being held off the coast near San Francisco after people tested positive for the disease. All on board are being tested

The US death toll rose to as Washington state reported two more fatalities. The Governor of New York state Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency there as cases jumped from on Friday to 085 Egypt has confirmed 44 new cases on a cruise ship on the river Nile, taking the total number of people infected on board to 64. Officials say those affected are Egyptian and are not displaying symptoms
• The Women’s World Ice Hockey Championships in Canada have been cancelled In Saudi Arabia, access to the sacred Kaaba in Islam’s holiest site Mecca remains blocked

What’s the latest on cases?

In Iran, people are reported to have died as a result of coronavirus in the past day.

A spokesman for Iran’s health ministry, Kianoush Jahanpour, said in a televised news conference on Saturday that more than 33, people were currently being tested in the country.

He added that 1, people with the illness had recovered.

The WHO’s representative in Iran, Dr Christoph Hamelmann, said Iran was making tremendous progress at its hospitals, with facilities made available for treatment in every province.

Among other countries to report a rise in the total number of cases are: France (to

New cases were announced in Colombia, Costa Rica, Malta, the Maldives. and Paraguay.

more than

, people have been infected with coronavirus in China since its emergence in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province.

                                                                                                                       

                                                                                                                       

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