The Italian government has introduced strict emergency measures to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country as 79 people have tested positive, including two who have died.
Of those who tested positive, 54 are in the Lombardy region, 17 in Veneto, two in Emilia Romagna and one in Piemonte, according to authorities. In addition, two Chinese tourists have been hospitalized in Rome.
The emergency measures include a ban on all public events in ten municipalities, closure of public buildings, including museums, surveillance and quarantine of individuals who may have been exposed to the virus, as well as limited transport.
“We are asking basically that everyone who has come from areas stricken by the epidemic to remain under a mandatory house stay,” Italy’s Minister of Health Roberto Speranza said at a press conference on Saturday.
“This plan has clearly some urgent choices that we must comply with, they are choices that are forceful in nature,” he said. “Because the essential objective that we must reach in the next hours is to precisely circumscribe this area, to work so this virus can be isolated inside a specific geographic area.”