Italy extends emergency coronavirus measures

In an attempt to tackle the growing coronavirus outbreak, Italy has extended its emergency measures, which include travel restrictions and a ban on public gatherings, to the entire country.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte came up with the development in a TV address on Monday (March 9).

The Prime Minister ordered people to stay home and seek permission for essential travel.

He said the measures were designed to protect the most vulnerable. "There is no more time," he said in the TV address.

Italy's coronavirus death toll jumped from 366 to 463 on Monday. It is the worst-hit country after China.

The number of confirmed infection also increased by 24% from Sunday, official figures showed.

Cases of the virus have been confirmed in all 20 Italian regions.

In an attempt to prevent the coronavirus outbreak, Italy has also taken the unprecedented step of placing around 1.6 crore citizens on lockdown for a month, limiting movement for those living in the country’s north. In a news conference after signing the quarantine decree, Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called the crisis a “a national emergency.” The move comes as the number of coronavirus cases in Italy exceeded 7,300 and the number of deaths increased from 233 to 366.

Late last year, the outbreak of coronavirus began in the Chinese city of Wuhan.

The global death toll from novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has risen to 4,027 and the number of people infected with the fast-spreading virus now stands at 114,442 worldwide.

The lethal virus has already spread to 115 countries and territories across the world.

Around 64,081 coronavirus infected people have so far recovered after receiving treatment suggested for the virus and been discharged from hospitals.

Dhaka/AI