Italy has taken the drastic step of locking down much of the north of the country, extending the Coronavirus ‘Red Zone’ quarantine area to include the Lombardy region – whose capital is Italy’s financial centre Milan.

The lockdown, which affects around 16 million people – roughly a quarter of Italy’s population – also includes parts of Veneto around Venice, and the Emilia Romagna cities of Rimini and Parma, Italy’s 2020 capital of culture.
Movement in and out of these lockdown areas will be severely restricted until at least 3 April, while movement within the quarantine zones will be limited to essential needs related to work or emergency situations.
In addition to the Lombardy region, the 14 areas affected are: Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Rimini, Pesaro and Urbino, Alessandria, Asti, Novara, Verbano Cusio Ossola, Vercelli, Padua, Treviso and Venice.

Whoever has a temperature of 37.5 or more is asked to remain indoors, and for those in quarantine it is strictly forbidden to leave home.