Milan, Sunday

Italy has placed up to 16 million people under quarantine as it battles to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Anyone living in Lombardy and 14 other central and northern provinces will need special permission to travel. Milan and Venice are both affected.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte also announced the closure of schools, gyms, museums, nightclubs and other venues across the whole country.

The measures, the most radical taken outside China, will last until 3 April.

Weddings and funerals have been suspended, as well as religious and cultural events. Cinemas, night clubs, gyms, swimming pools, museums and ski resorts have been closed. Restaurants and cafes in the quarantined zones can open between 6am and 6pm but customers must sit at least 1m one metre apart.

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

Italy has seen the largest number of coronavirus infections in Europe, with the number of confirmed cases jumping by more than 1,200 to 5,883 on Saturday.

The strict new quarantine measures affect a quarter of the Italian population and centre on the rich northern part of the country that powers its economy.

The death toll in Italy has passed 230, with officials reporting more than 36 deaths in 24 hours. 

The health system is under immense strain in Lombardy, a northern region of 10 million people, where people are being treated in hospital corridors.

“We want to guarantee the health of our citizens. We understand that these measures will impose sacrifices, sometimes small and sometimes very big,” PM Conte said as he announced the measures in the middle of the night.

“There will be no movement in or out of these areas, or within them, unless for proven, work-related reasons emergencies or health reasons.” 

Genuine sacrifices

“We are facing an emergency, a national emergency. We have to limit the spread of the virus and prevent our hospitals from being overwhelmed,” he added.

The World Health Organization on Sunday saluted Italy’s “genuine sacrifices” after the measures were announced.

“The government & the people of Italy are taking bold, courageous steps aimed at slowing the spread of the #coronavirus,” WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet.

Pope Francis expressed solidarity Sunday with the victims of the novel coronavirus in his first livestreamed prayer and message from the Vatican.

“I am close through prayer with the people who suffer from the current coronavirus epidemic,” the 83-year-old pontiff said in a message recorded at the Vatican library and aired live on a screen on Saint Peter’s Square before a small crowd.

Meanwhile, South Africa registred it third case of the virus on Sunday. All three cases were in a group of 10 people who had travelled to Italy, the health minister said in a statement. -BBC and AFP