A fourth person with the
coronavirus has died in Italy, Lombardy Governor Attilio Fontana
said on Monday.
The governor told RAI radio that the latest deceased was "an
elderly person with other pathologies".
The 84-year-old man died in hospital in Bergamo.
Fontana said the number of people in his region alone
infected with the deadly disease had climbed to 165, meaning the
total for the nation has crossed the 200 mark.
In Veneto 27 cases have been reported and there are 16 in
Emilia-Romagna, plus three in Piedmont, three in Trentino-Alto
Adige and three in Lazio.
The Lazio cases are that of a Italian researcher who was
brought back from Wuhan and has recovered and two Chinese
tourists being treated at Rome's Spallanzani hospital.
The authorities have taken emergency measures to try to stop
the spread of the virus.
Road blocks have been set up to stop people entering or
leaving around 10 towns in the province are Lodi that the
epicentre of the virus in Lombardy.
The regions of Lombardy, Veneto, Piedmont, Trentino-Alto
Adige and Friuli Venezia Giulia have closed schools,
universities, museums, monuments and libraries and banned public
events that attract big crowds.
As a result four Serie A games were postponed on Sunday and
the famous Venice carnival was cancelled.
Part of the problem for the Italian authorities is that they
do not yet know where the contagion has come from.
A manager who recently visited China and who was thought to
be the 'patient zero' for the Italian outbreak, as he had
contact with a 38-year-old who spread the disease to other
people, has tested negative for it.
European Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides announced that
a team of experts from the European Centre for Disease
Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization was
being sent to help Italy in its efforts to limit the
transmission of COVID19.
"We are following the situation in Italy very closely and
commend the Italian authorities for their swift and efficient
action," Kyriakides said via Twitter.
"@EU_Commission stands ready to provide support.
"It is only together that we can contain the spread of the
#COVID19".
A train that was halted at the Brenner Pass, at the border
between Austria and Italy, because two German women appeared to
have had flu symptoms was allowed through and completed its
journey to Munich after they tested negative for the
coronavirus.
Basilicata Governor Vito Bardi has ordered that anyone who
enters the southern region from northern regions hit by the
outbreak must undergo a 14-day period of quarantine in isolation
or at home.
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