Italians extend lockdown across the WHOLE country after death toll leaps by 97 in one day to 463... as travel is restricted, people are told not to go out at night and nation's premier says 'there won't be a red zone... there'll just be Italy'
- Lockdown in Italy extended nationwide as previous measures were no longer sufficient to contain outbreak
- New government decree requires all people to demonstrate a need to travel outside the areas where they live
- Photos emerged in Cremona of medics in protective suits with gloves, goggles, face masks treating patients
- Giuseppe Conte pleaded with Italians to 'protect the health of our loved ones' by obeying the new lockdown
- He told people not to 'counter these measures or dodge them' after 16million people were put in quarantine
- Police were today manning checkpoints in Lombardy after the region and 14 provinces were shut down
- Italy's death toll soared from 133 to 366 yesterday, becoming the highest in the world outside China
- The spike marks a 20 per cent rise in the coronavirus death rate within 24 hours in the European country
- Foreign Office said British tourists 'are free to return home or complete their holiday' under Italian guidelines
- Six prisoners died amid jailhouse riots across Italy in protest at a ban on family visits because of coronavirus
Travel restrictions are being imposed across Italy nationwide as the whole country goes into lockdown to try to halt the spread of the new coronavirus.
Italian premier Giuseppe Conte said on Monday night that a new government decree will require all people in Italy to demonstrate a need to work, health conditions or other limited reasons to travel outside the areas where they live.
Conte said he is extending restrictions on travel from the north to the entire country of 60 million people in a new move to try to stop the spread of the virus that has so far killed more than 460 in Italy.
The premier also took to task young people in much of Italy who have been gathering at night to drink and have a good time during the public health emergency that started on February 21.
'This night life...we can't allow this anymore,' Conte added as he announced the restrictions will take effect on Tuesday and like those in northern Italy will last until April 3.
He told reporters, referring to a lockdown of areas in northern Italy instituted over the weekend, 'There won't be just a red zone. There will be Italy' as a protected area.
Conte told reporters that measures introduced just two days ago in much of the north were no longer sufficient and that they would have to be extended to the whole country from Tuesday. 'Stay at home,' Conte added.
Italy's death toll leapt by 97 in one day to 463 on Monday as alarming photos emerged of patients hooked onto life support machines inside quarantine-zone hospitals.
Coronavirus patients lie face-down on their hospital beds as they are treated by medical staff in protective suits in Cremona, northern Italy, today. Research has suggested that lying face-down may improve survival chances in intensive care
Relatives of Rebibbia prison's inmates facing police after inmates staged a protest against new coronavirus containment measures in Rome on Monday
An almost empty Rialto bridge in Venice today as the country went into lockdown. The landmark is normally a bustling tourist attraction full of selfie-taking visitors
Inmates stage a protest on the roof of the San Vittore prison in Milan today, in northern Italy where drastic new measures have been imposed to stop the spread of coronavirus
Italy's death toll leapt by 97 in one day to 463 on Monday as the coronavirus continued to spread across Europe
The deaths, announced by the Italian Civil Protection Agency this afternoon, mark a 20 per cent rise in the country's total number of deaths within 24 hours.
Almost half of these have been reported in those aged 80 to 89-years-old, the Department said, with a further 31 per cent in 70 to 79-year-olds.
Schools in the centre of Italy and south that were closed because of the virus had been slated to reopen on March 16.
Italy registered 1,807 more confirmed cases as of Monday evening, for a national total of 9,172. With those numbers, Italy again overtook South Korea as the country with the most cases outside China. The number of people with the virus who died increased to 463.
The total number of cases in Italy, at the epicentre of the European coronavirus outbreak, also rose to 9,172, the largest daily increase in terms of absolute numbers since the contagion first emerged on February 11.
Under the weekend decree that applied to regions in the north, pubs, restaurants and cafes are required to close at dusk. Now the mandatory early hours will affect all of a locked-down Italy.
On Saturday night, alarmed at rumours over a quarantine in the north, many Italians fled the targeted regions in the northern 'red zone' was put under lockdown on Sunday.
Some 16 million residents live in that first lockdown, in the north, in populous Lombardy, which includes Milan, and 14 provinces in the north, including that of Venice.
Photos from a hospital in Cremona, within the locked down region of Lombardy, show patients patients surrounded by wires and tubes being treated by medics in full protective suits with gloves, goggles and face masks.
Some are lying face-down on their hospital beds, which researchers believe can raise survival rates in intensive care by improving oxygen levels in the blood.
The hospital in the quarantined region which is one of the regions sealed off in the toughest quarantine measures that any country has imposed outside China.
Italy's prime minister last night pleaded with his citizens to obey the draconian new measures, declaring that 'this is the time to be responsible' after the quarantine took effect in cities including Milan and Venice.
'We want to protect the health of all citizens, we are aware that this will create unease and that these measures will be a sacrifice, big and small,' Giuseppe Conte said in an address last night.
Italian PM Giuseppe Conte declared that 'this is the time to be responsible' in an address last night (pictured) as he called on people to 'protect the health of our loved ones' after the quarantine took effect in cities including Milan and Venice
A stop sign and a roadblock stand in the way of motorists on a road in San Fiorano, northern Italy, which is under lockdown
An Italian military police officer checks the documents of a motorist travelling with his dog in San Fiorano, with authorities today imposing checkpoints to enforce a drastic new quarantine
People wearing protective masks in Milan's Malpensa airport today - which remained open despite the quarantine
A map showing the parts of Italy that have been placed under lockdown in drastic new measures to tackle coronavirus
'But this is the time to be responsible. We all must respect and not dodge these measures.
'We should not counter these measures or dodge them, we must think about protecting our health, the health of our beloved ones, the health of our parents, but mainly the health of our grandparents,' he said, warning that older people have proved the most vulnerable to the virus.
Italian police were today setting up checkpoints in Lombardy after the wealthy northern region and 14 other provinces were placed into lockdown in a measure which will last until at least April 3.
Only people with a 'serious' reason that cannot be postponed, such as urgent work or family issues, will be allowed in or out of the 'orange zones'.
Anyone who breaks the rules without justification could face three months in prison or a 200-euro fine in a draconian new effort to tackle the crisis.
Confusion reigned in northern Italy on Monday over who could go where and under what circumstances, the first business day since the government locked down a vast area with more than one-quarter of the Italian population in a desperate attempt to contain the country's coronavirus epidemic.
Streets in Milan, Italy's financial hub and the main city in Lombardy, were unseasonably quiet. Check points were set up at the city's main train station to screen travellers.
People at Milan Central Station were being required to sign a police form, self-certifying they were travelling either for 'proven work needs', situations of necessity, health reasons or to return to their homes.
The crisis deepened even further yesterday as Italy's death toll soared from 133 to 366, becoming the highest in the world outside China.
Medical staff in protective suits treat coronavirus patients in an intensive care unit at the Cremona hospital in northern Italy
A health worker in a full protective suit with a mask, goggles and gloves works in the intensive care unit in Cremona
A masked medic tends to a patient on the intensive care ward in Cremona, in northern Italy at the centre of the outbreak
A close-up of a hospital patient being treated in the intensive care unit and surrounded by wires and tubes
Police check a woman's belongings by the side of a road in San Fiorano at a checkpoint where a lockdown is being enforced
Health workers prepare to carry out checks on passengers from Milan at Potenza station in Italy early this morning
A health worker checks the body temperature of a cleaner arriving at the Juventus stadium before the Turin team's match against Inter Milan yesterday, which was played behind closed doors
SHARE THIS ARTICLE
The number of confirmed cases in the country also surged by 1,492 to 7,375, making the scale of the Italian outbreak worse than South Korea's.
To make matters worse, six people died yesterday in one of several jailhouse riots after prisoners revolted over new rules which banned them from seeing their families over coronavirus fears.
Weddings and funerals have been banned under the tough new health measures while museums, cinemas, shopping centres and restaurants have all been hit by new restrictions.
Bars and restaurants can remain open as long as customers stay three feet apart - but will be shut down if their guests are found to be getting too close to each other.
Schools have already been shut down across the country until March 15, with schools and universities in Lombardy and the 'orange zone' areas due to remain closed until at least April 3.
The Pope, who has been ill in recent weeks, held his Sunday blessing by video instead of in person and described feeling like he was 'in a cage'.
Italian police will be setting up controls at train stations to check people's temperatures, and stopping all cars on main roads in and out to verify the reason for travel, officials said.
Cruise ships will be forbidden from docking in Venice, with only passengers who are residents of the lagoon city allowed to disembark.
Alitalia suspended national and international flights to and from Milan Malpensa airport, and announced it was operating only domestic routes from Milan Linate.
The borders with Austria, Switzerland and Slovenia remain open.
Speaking to La Repubblica, prime minister Conte also vowed a course of 'massive shock therapy' to aid the Italian economy after much of its industrial and business heartland was shut down.
The Milan stock market, which was already down some 17 per cent since the outbreak in northern Italy, plunged at Monday's opening, with the blue chip FTMIB index down 11 per cent.
Matching similar calls from France, Conte said strict European Union borrowing limits should be loosened to allow more room for manoeuvre, and that the flexibility envisaged by the EU's budget rules should be used 'in full'.
'Europe cannot think of confronting an extraordinary situation with ordinary measures,' he said.
The European Commission told Italy on Saturday that its planned extra spending in response to the outbreak would not be counted in measuring its compliance with EU budget rules.
'The economic measures in the works will be vigorous, commensurate to current needs, but temporary,' the economy ministry said, adding that Italy remained committed to reducing its debt as soon as possible.
The ministry also said it would 'spare no effort' in ensuring that measures were agreed at a European level.
While a quarter of Italy's population faces life in quarantine, Britons in the coronavirus-ridden zone are free to travel home without restrictions. British Airways, Ryanair and EasyJet still have Milan flights available to book on their website.
The Foreign and Commonwealth Office confirmed that British tourists in the northern parts of the country 'are free to return home or complete their holiday' under guidelines from the Italian government.
They said UK nationals will not be met by anyone at the airport in Britain, nor will they be put into quarantine or told to take a test for the bug which has so killed more than 3,600 worldwide and has infected more than 100,000.
The FCO updated its advice on Sunday night, advising against all but essential travel to a wider area of northern Italy due to the crisis.
The move has been made following consultations with Italian authorities and the chief medical officer, the department said.
A relative of an Italian prison inmate clashes with police outside the SantAnna jail in Modena today, where six prisoners died yesterday following riots
Inmates protest on a wall of the Poggioreale prison in Naples yesterday, in southern Italy outside the area that has been quarantined
Health personnel carry out checks on passengers arriving in the city of Potenza on a high-speed train from Milan today
Two-year-old Bianca Toniolo has a picnic with a doll at home in San Fiorano, on the 17th day of quarantine in one of the 11 small towns that were initially placed under lockdown
People wearing protective masks rest at Malpensa airport near Milan this morning, where some flights are still running
Passengers depart from a train in Naples which arrived from Milan as people scrambled to flee from quarantined regions of northern Italy
Relatives of inmates gather outside the SantAnna prison in Modena, Emilia-Romagna, amid a revolt over new virus measures
Medical officers check passengers on a Flixbus coach in Salerno yesterday after it had travelled through several Italian cities
An interior view of the nearly-empty Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II arcade, Italy's oldest shopping mall, in Milan on Monday
An almost completely empty St Mark's Square in Venice is seen today after the city was declared part of the quarantine zone
Police officers speak to railway passengers next to a high-speed train at Venice Santa Lucia station. The departure board behind them indicates that the train is destined for Rome
An employee of the Venice municipal transport company walks to her workplace in Piazza San Marco in the lagoon city
A bar was almost empty in Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan yesterday amid coronavirus panic as concerned residents and tourists opt to stay inside
The usually-bustling streets in Milan's city centre were strangely quiet of both traffic and people as coronavirus fears rage on
Mass panic swept in after the Italian government imposed a quarantine affecting 16 million people in the country's northern region in a bid to combat the spread of deadly coronavirus. Pictured: People queue at bus stations trying to leave Lampugnano
Panicked shoppers queue to buy food in Via Rubattino, Milan, after it was announced that multiple regions of northern Italy would be quarantined
Medical officers checking the travellers of a bus coming from the red zone in Salerno today. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte prolonged the closure of schools until April 3 and closed Lombardy and 14 other provinces of the central north due to the coronavirus epidemic
Medical officers in Salerno checking travellers on a bus coming from the red zone in Italy. Many people have travelled to southern Italy to reach their families of origin before the lockdown was complete, forcing the Italian authorities to intensify the checks at the arrival stations
Vincenzo Tosetti, a 34-year old actor and Venice resident, said that 'many people I know have fled, mainly from Milan.
'This is going to test the Italians' ability to behave responsibly, and I have to say that up until now they've been failing. There's been an exodus'.
Fellow Venetian Giancarlo, 49, who did not want to give his last name, said 'you can feel the anxiety in the air'.
The floating city was also virtually empty of tourists, which was 'a big blow'. 'First the city was hit by record floods [last autumn], now this. Venice is very fragile right now,' he said.
The virus has now spread to all 22 Italian regions, and the first deaths are being recorded in Italy's less well medically equipped south.
The head of the Puglia region in southern Italy pleaded with anyone thinking of returning from Lombardy and the other 11 provinces in lockdown - which include the cities of Parma and Rimini - to 'stop and turn around'.
'Get off (the train) at the first station, don't get on the flights to Bari and Brindisi, turn your cars around, get off the bus at the next stop. Don't bring the epidemic to Puglia,' he said on Facebook.
'You are carrying to the lungs of your brothers and sisters, grandparents, uncles, cousins and parents the virus that has severely strained the health system in northern Italy,' he said.
Meanwhile, six prisoners have died after a series of jailhouse riots across Italy which were sparked by tough new measures to stop the spread of the virus.
Inmates set their prison on fire in Modena yesterday in an angry protest over a ban on family visits, unions said.
Six inmates are confirmed to have died, including three who had been transferred to different prisons as authorities tried to quell the uprising.
Justice ministry sources said two of the deaths in Modena were caused by an overdose from drugs found in the jail infirmaries, while a third prisoner was found blue in the face and their cause of death was still unclear.
Police were today clashing with relatives who had gathered outside the jail, in northern Italy which is at the centre of the virus outbreak.
The riot was one of several around the country with other disturbances taking place in Salerno, Naples and Milan among others.
While regions of Italy are under an extreme quarantine in which people face a three-month prison sentence for leaving locked-down areas, Britons in the coronavirus-ridden zone are free to travel home without facing penalties. Pictured: Travellers at Linate, Milan's city airport
The Foreign Office confirmed that British tourists in the northern parts of the country 'are free to return home or complete their holiday' under guidelines from the Italian government. Pictured: Linate airport in Milan
A passenger wearing a protective face mask, amid concerns about coronavirus, walks in Linate Airport in Milan
Manzoni street in Milan is almost empty following the government-imposed quarantine. Vespas line the street where just a handful of people are seen walking
People on buses wear protective face masks as they wait to flee Lampugnano, Milan, after the area was put on lockdown
A doctor can be seen in the pre-triage tent of the Civil Protection in Villa Sofia in a bid to combat the outbreak in Palermo, Italy
Footage broadcast by local media showed police and fire trucks outside the prison as black smoke swirled into the sky.
Around 500 people were at risk of escaping until authorities laid siege to the penitentiary and eventually stormed the building.
Once inside, they discovered a 'surreal scene and a devastated building', reports say, seizing a supply of drugs.
The head of Italy's prison service, Francesco Basentini, said three inmates had at the jail and three others had died after being transferred to other prisons.
'There have been a series of rebellions across the country,' Basentini said in a televised interview.
Prison officers' union Sappe said some 80 prisoners had been transferred to other jails after the uprising.
'The inmates that have been moved were those who managed to reach the yard in a bid to escape,' Seppe's secretary general Giovanni Battista Durante said.
'We are told other prisoners inside the jail have barricaded themselves in and probably have illegal weapons'. He said colleagues from the prison had told him the jail had been 'completely destroyed'.
Staff check the temperature of a man before he goes into the AC Milan and Genoa CFC game at San Siro, Milan, today
Officials set up temperature checks at the entrance of the Luigi Ferraris stadium for spectators attending the Serie A soccer match between Sampdoria and Verona. Some matches in the Italian league played on despite calls from Italy's sports minister and players' association president to suspend the games
Sunday's AC Milan and Genoa CFC Serie A football match at Stadio Giuseppe Meazza was played behind closed doors to limit the spread of deadly coronavirus
A health staff checking the body temperature of a man arriving at the Juventus stadium before the Italian Serie A football match between Juventus and Inter Milan which will be played behind closed doors in Turin today
A man having his temperature screened outside the Allianz Stadium in Turin today as the number of coronavirus cases grows around the world
Empty seats inside the Allianz Stadium before the match between Juventus and Inter Milan is played behind closed doors
Pope Francis delivered his Angelus prayer on a giant screen, in St. Peter's Square, at the Vatican and voiced his support for the victims
People in face masks walk in St. Peter's Square as Pope Francis delivers his weekly Angelus prayer via video for the first time
The Pope did venture to his window overlooking St. Peter's Square to wave at the crowds who gathered to watch him deliver his prayer via a live stream
Rows of empty chairs could be seen in front of St Peter's Square, Vatican City, as the Pope delivers his address on a screen
News of the impending quarantine was leaked to Italian media early, prompting further chaos as people rushed to get out of the affected areas.
The leak infuriated Conte, who slammed it as 'unacceptable', saying it had created 'uncertainty, anxiety, (and) confusion'.
Pina Antinucci, a psychoanalyst in her 60s who lives in Milan, said she was suffering nightmares and felt the state was 'bombarding us with anxieties, spreading paranoia'.
'I'd like to know if I'm infected... it would be better to know if I have that unwanted guest who occupies our homes, minds and lives,' she said.
Massimo Galli, the head of a team of doctors from the Biomedical Research Institute in Milan who identified the Italian strain last month, said the leak had been a 'disastrous communication error' and 'absolute idiocracy'.
Italian virologist Roberto Burioni described the leak on Twitter as 'pure madness'.
'The draft of a very harsh decree is leaked, sparking panic and prompting people to try and flee the (then) theoretical red zone, carrying the virus with them,' he said on social media.
Airline Alitalia said it was suspending national and international flights to and from Milan's Malpensa airport from March 9 after the government ordered a lockdown of large areas of northern Italy.
In a statement, the Italian flag carrier said it would operate only national flights from the smaller Milan Linate airport, and reduce the number of flights between Venice and Rome.
International routes will be served from Rome's Fiumicino airport. The new regime will continue until at least April 3, the airline said.
Meanwhile, Pope Francis broke with centuries of tradition by enlisting the help of technology for his weekly Angelus prayer.
'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.
The Pope himself tested negative for the contagion after he fell ill on Ash Wednesday with symptoms of a cold including a cough, fever, chills and sore throat.
Milan's Via Senato - usually bustling with busy shoppers - was left nearly deserted as coronavirus fears escalate in Italy's northern regions
Italy has the highest number of cases outside China, the epicentre of the killer bug, overtaking South Korea. Pictured: A man wearing a protective mask passes by the Coliseum in Rome
The Vatican is also unrolling unprecedented health precautions designed to keep the tiny city state's 450 mostly elderly residents safe. Pictured: A man wearing a mask in St Peter's Square at the Vatican
Milan's iconic Duomo square is virtually deserted after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte put the city - that is in Italy's Lombardy region - on lockdown
A man wearing a face mask in Milan, where streets have been left virtually empty after the Prime Minister issued a decree for mass lock downs in the north that will continue until April 3
Italian football was also plunged into chaos as Serie A match between Parma and SPAL faced a last-minute delay following a call from Italy's sports minister to suspend the league during the outbreak.
Players faced a 75-minute wait for kick-off inside an empty stadium as officials considered an appeal from sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora minutes before the scheduled start.
Spadafora said he supported a call from Italian soccer players' association president Damiano Tommasi to avoid putting players at risk amid the virus outbreak.
Some had voiced growing anger over the idea of having to play matches during the coronavirus outbreak.
'It doesn't make sense right now, when we're requesting enormous sacrifices of our citizens in order to stop the spread of contagion, to put at risk the health of the players, referees, coaches and fans,' Spadafora said.
The Italian league replied that it was following government orders to hold games in empty stadiums.
'The repeated and contrasting government statements only add to the general state of confusion and definitely don't help the system overcome the difficult time caused by the virus,' a league statement said.
Five Serie A matches took place Sunday, beginning with Parma v Spal at lunchtime and concluding with Juventus v Inter Milan in the evening. All of the matches had already been postponed from last weekend.
An appeal by Spadafora for this weekend's games to be shown on free TV 'considering the serious inconvenience affecting the population in this difficult time' was rejected by the league.
'The minister has gone from asking for the games to be shown for free to suspending the league, amid a decree to play behind closed doors,' Cagliari president Tommaso Giulini said. 'Italy needs clarity and gravitas right now, not populist proclamations.'
.jpg)
