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Whole of Italy under coronavirus lockdown with travel and public gatherings banned as deaths soar past 450 – the sun, thesun.co.uk

Whole of Italy under coronavirus lockdown with travel and public gatherings banned as deaths soar past 450 – the sun, thesun.co.uk

THE WHOLE of Italy has gone into lockdown sparking panic buying and reports of looting as hospitals are “overwhelmed”.

The desperate bid to halt the coronavirus was announced last night, as the Italian PM extended a lockdown area already covering much of the north to cover the whole country.

⚠️ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy (The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy ) (Credit: EPA)

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

Shoppers stock up on essentials in the capital Rome  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy Credit: EPA

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy Residents in surgical masks descended on supermarkets in their droves Credit: EPA

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

People queue outside a shop in Rome after the lockdown announcement (Credit: Reuters  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

(Locals emptied the shelves of goods at shops across Italy ) (Credit: Reuters

The move will see all public events banned, cinemas, gyms and pubs closed, funerals and weddings cancelled and sporting matches including Serie A games suspended.

Within minutes of the announcement, supermarkets and late night stores across Italy reported a surge of panic buying.

Pictures show huge queues of people outside shops as shelves were left empty.

There were also reports of vital medical supplies being looted as chaos grips the country.

Marco Damonte Prioli, director of a hospital in the Liguria region of Italy, told the

Wall Street Journal : “These are episodes of looting … at a time when these health devices are so important.” HOSPITALS ‘OVERWHELMED’

And one Italian doctor said his hospital was being “overwhelmed” by the “tsunami” of patients.

Dr Daniele Macchini, who works at Humanitas Gavazzeni hospital in Bergamo, northern Italy, wrote on Facebook: “The war has literally exploded and the battles are uninterrupted day and night.

“The results of the swabs now come one after the other: positive, positive, positive. Suddenly the emergency room is collapsing.”

Doctors are now faced with having to make life-or-death decisions about who gets a hospital bed, with medics told to consider a patient’s age and their chances of survival.

Dr Guido Giustetto, head of the association of doctors in northern Piedmont, said: “It’s a reasoning that our colleagues make.

“It becomes dramatic if, rather than doing it under normal situations, they do it because the beds are so scarce that someone might not have access to medical care.”

‘CORONAVIRUS EMERGENCY!’

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

Emergency vehicles apparently blast out warnings to stay indoors Credit: Twitter ValerioEsposito

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy () The car can be heard blasting out ‘Coronavirus emergency!’ in Naples  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy Credit: Twitter ValerioEsposito

 Residents in surgical masks descended on supermarkets in their droves

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy Police and soldiers check travelers at Milan train station  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy Credit: AP: Associated Press

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 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

Prisoners of the San Vittore Prison protest on the roof against their treatment during the coronavirus outbreak in Milan Credit: Getty Images – Getty  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy 97

Medical staff in protective suits treat coronavirus patients in an intensive care unit at the Cremona hospital in northern Italy Credit: Reuters  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

Italy has the highest number of confirmed cases outside of China at 9, and its death toll stands at .

Over the weekend, 93 million people in the north country were placed under quarantine to try and contain the spread of (Covid – .

But Italy’s PM has now extended the strict quarantine measures to the entire country as it struggles to contain the outbreak.

Giuseppe Conte said people would only be allowed to travel for work or family emergencies.

He said the drastic measures had been introduced because the country had “no time left”.

Mr Conte said that the best thing for Italians was to stay at home.

‘NO MORE NIGHTLIFE’

He said: “We want to guarantee the health of our citizens. We understand that these measures will impose sacrifices, sometimes small and sometimes very big.

“But this is a time where we must take responsibility for ourselves.”

He added: “We have to limit the spread of the virus and prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed.

“I will take responsibility for these measures. Our future is in our hands.

“No more nightlife … we can’t allow this anymore since they are occasions for contagion.”

Schools and universities will remain closed until April 3 beyond the original extension of March

Under the new decree, people can face fines and up to three months in prison for breaking quarantine rules.

 Residents in surgical masks descended on supermarkets in their droves

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy )

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The streets of Milan were eerily empty today after the lockdown (: Credit: Reuters

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

(A man parks his scooter by the teatro) alla Scala in downtown Milan today  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy Credit: AFP or licensors

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy A solitary masked woman walks through Piazza Venezia in downtown Rome  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy Credit: AFP or licensors  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

Checkpoints on motorways, toll booths, train stations and airports are expected to be introduced today.

Payments on mortgages will be also suspended across the country, Italy’s deputy economy minister said on Tuesday.

Italy’s banking lobby ABI said on Monday lenders representing 99 per cent of total banking assets would offer debt moratoriums to small firms and households grappling with the economic fallout from Italy’s coronavirus outbreak.

It comes after details of the plan to quarantine million people were leaked to the press on Saturday – leading to a mass exodus to the south.

Roberto Burioni, a professor of microbiology and virology at the Vita-Salute San Raffaele University in Milan, said: “What happened with the news leak has caused many people to try to escape, causing the opposite effect of what the decree is trying to achieve.

“Unfortunately some of those who fled will be infected with the disease.”  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy PRISON RIOTS

Earlier on Monday, six inmates died amid riots at prisons across the country after authorities suspended all visits from family and friends.

The trouble began in the northern city of Modena after inmates at the Sant’Anna prison were told all visits had been suspended.

Three people were reported to have died at the prison, while a further three died after being transferred from there.

At San Vittore prison in Milan, inmates set fire to a cell block, then climbed onto the roof through windows and unfurled banners.

At a prison in the southern city of Foggia, about inmates managed to break out of the building during protests.

There were also riots at several other jails across the country.

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

Live Blog  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

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VICTIM SILENT

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‘THAT’S FERAL’

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()  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

WORM’S EYE VIEW

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 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy Exclusive

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

CRUISE CHAOS (Angry TUI passengers to fly home as coronavirus cancels £ 1,) cruise mid-trip

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

Brits have been advised against “all but essential” travel to Italy after “confusing” FCO advice left hundreds of holidaymakers’ plans in chaos.

Many British flights returning home were allowed to land with no checks.

However the Foreign Office tonight said anyone traveling back to Italy should now self isolate for a fortnight

The number of infections worldwide is now more than 192, , with about 3, 10768232 deaths.

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

Relatives of Rebibbia prison’s inmates face police after inmates staged a protest against new coronavirus containment measures Credit: AP: Associated Press  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

Anti-riot police officers at the Sant’Anna prison in Modena : Credit: AFP or licensors

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy 96 (A A waitress cleans in the middle of the tables of a cafe in an empty square in Venice

Credit: Getty Images – Ge tty

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy A deserted San Marco Square in Venice following the quarantine measures (Credit: Getty Images – Getty

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy A medical officer on board a train in Salerno during checks on passengers coming from the north

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy  The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy

 The lockdown announcement sparked a wave of panic-buying across Italy Italian police block a road in northern Italy following the announcement to quarantine more than (million people  Shoppers stock up on essentials in the capital Rome

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The Doge palace in Venice is deserted as Italy goes into lockdown over the coronavirus crisis Credit: AFP or licensors

 Italian police block a road in northern Italy following the announcement to quarantine more than 16 million people Italian police block a road in northern Italy following the announcement to quarantine more than 16 million people Read More

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