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Coronavirus: Entire Italy in lockdown as Covid-19 toll mounts

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Coronavirus, Entire, Italy, lockdown, Covid-19, toll, mounts

A worker sprays disinfectant as sanitization operations against Coronavirus are carried out in the museum hosted by the Maschio Angioino medieval castle, in Naples, Italy.-AP

Country isolated as travel is restricted following unprecedented emergency measures.

Published: Tue 10 Mar 2020, 9:00 PM

Updated: Tue 10 Mar 2020, 11:42 PM

  • By
  • Reuters

Shops and restaurants closed, hundreds of flights were cancelled and streets emptied across Italy on Tuesday, the first day of an unprecedented, nationwide lockdown imposed to slow Europe's worst outbreak of coronavirus.
The government has told all Italians to stay at home and avoid all non-essential travel until April 3, dramatically widening steps already taken in much of the wealthy north, which is the epicentre of the spreading contagion.
"Our civic duty is the only thing that can save us," said Marzio Tonilo, 35, a teacher from the northern town of San Fiorano, which was placed under quarantine last month. Italy recorded 168 new coronavirus deaths, highest one-day toll, on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte unexpectedly expanded the so-called red zone to the entire country on Monday night, introducing the most severe controls on a Western nation since World War Two.
The move shocked many small businesses, which feared for their future.
"It looks like an apocalypse has struck, there is no one around," said Mario Monfreda, who runs Larys restaurant in a smart Rome residential area. Under the government order, all bars and restaurants will now have to close at 6pm.



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