Venice has cancelled its flagship carnival celebration and all other public events due to be held in the city for at least one week after the new Covid-19 coronavirus killed two people in northern Italy and sparked a lockdown in 12 towns.
The final days of the carnival, which has already attracted thousands of visitors, will now be cancelled.
The drastic measures follow Italian designer Giorgio Armani cancelling his Milan fashion show for the same reasons.
Armani released a statement this morning announcing the cancellation of today’s 4pm show which read: ‘The show will be shown behind closed doors, due to the recent developments of coronavirus in Italy, live-streamed in front of an empty teatro on the Armani website, therefore please do not attend the show this afternoon.’
Italy has also postponed three football matches in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto because of coronavirus fears.
Venice has cancelled its flagship carnival celebration and all other public events due to be held in the city for at least one week after the new Covid-19 coronavirus killed two people in northern Italy and sparked a lockdown in 12 towns
Tourists wear protective face masks during the Carnival in Venice before authorities announced its cancellation
The final days of the carnival, which has already attracted thousands of visitors, will now be cancelled
Italian designer Giorgio Armani (pictured presenting his SS19 collection) has cancelled his Milan fashion show after the new Covid-19 coronavirus killed two people near the city and sparked a lockdown in 12 towns
Designer Giorgio Armani was photographed putting on a face mask as he arrived at the venue of the Autumn/Winter 2020 collection during Milan Fashion Week
The fashion show will instead be live-streamed on the brand’s website later today to prevent people from having to travel to Milan to watch it
On orders from the government, the Italian league games set to be played today were called off. They are: Inter Milan v Sampdoria, Atalanta v Sassuolo and Hellas Verona v Cagliari.
However three other matches in Genoa, Turin and Rome on Sunday are going ahead as scheduled.
A dozen towns went into lockdown on Saturday, with 50,000 people were asked to stay indoors, after the deaths and a growing number of cluster cases with no direct links to the origin of the outbreak abroad.
The secondary contagions prompted local authorities in the Lombardy and Veneto regions to close schools, businesses and restaurants and to cancel sporting events and Masses.
A person in the audience wears a mask as she attends the Dolce & Gabbana Autumn/Winter 2020 collection show during Milan Fashion Week today
A general view during the Dolce e Gabbana fashion show as part of Milan Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2020-2021 today
Exterior view on the Chiesa Parrocchiale di San Biagio e Santa Maria Immacolata church in a deserted Codogno
A view of a deserted street in Codogno, one the northern Italian towns placed under lockdown due to the new coronavirus outbreak
A view of a deserted street in Castiglione d’Adda, near Lodi, northern Italy, where the mayor ordered the closure of municipal offices and the municipal library
Medical staff transfers a patient to the hospital in Codogno, one the northern Italian towns placed under lockdown due to the new coronavirus outbreak
The fashion house released a statement this morning announcing the cancellation and saying it would be streamed on their website
The mayor of Milan, Italy’s business capital and the regional capital of Lombardy, shut public offices.
A 78-year-old man infected with the virus died in Veneto. A post-mortem on a 77-year-old woman in Lombardy came back positive, though it was not clear if illness from the virus caused her death.
Retired bricklayer Adriano Trevisan, 78, passed away in a hospital in Padua on Friday evening after having been admitted to the hospital for another health issue ten days ago, said local authorities.
Carnival revellers wear protective face masks at Venice Carnival, which the last two days of, as well as Sunday night’s festivities, have been cancelled
Turists wear protective face masks in a gondola, because of an outbreak of coronavirus, in Venice
The first to die, Adriano Trevisan, 78, passed away in a hospital in north eastern Italy on Friday evening
Two coronavirus patients in Italy have today died from the Covid-19 disease that has now killed 2,253 people and infected more than 77,268 globally. Pictured ambulances and health workers outside the hospital in Padua
The second patient to die was an elderly woman whose death has triggered the closing down of shops, offices and community centres in Casalpusterlengo, according to Italian news agency Ansa.
Hundreds of residents and workers who came into contact with an estimated 54 people confirmed infected in Italy were in isolation pending test results.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte expressed his sympathies for the two deaths and said he had called an emergency meeting, as more than 50,000 people from about a dozen towns in two northern regions were asked to stay at home by the local authorities.
The few people out on the streets were wearing coveted face masks, which were nearly impossible to find in sold-out pharmacies.
The president of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana, said there were 39 confirmed cases in the region, where 10 towns received orders to suspend non-essential activities and services.
An elderly woman who died tested positive for the virus, though it wasn’t clear if that is what caused her death.
Health Minister Luca Zaia said Saturday that the contagion showed that the virus is transmitted like any other flu, and that trying to pinpoint a single source of infection or one with direct links to China is no longer effective.
‘You can get it from anyone,’ he told reporters.
‘We can expect to have cases of patients who had no contact’ with suspected carriers.
While the virus isn’t particularly lethal, it can be for the elderly or people with existing conditions, he said.
Mr Trevisan’s daughter, Vanessa, had been Mayor of Vo’ Euganeo, a small town of 3,300 inhabitants which is now under lockdown.
Hundreds of people who came into contact with the roughly 25 people infected with the disease were in isolation pending test results. Civil protection crews set up a tent camp outside a closed hospital in Veneto to screen medical staff for the virus.
Empty shelves at Esselunga supermarket in Cremona, Italy. Two deaths from the coronavirus sparked fears throughout northern Italy
Empty shelves at Esselunga supermarket as people stockpile due to the fear of the new coronavirus
Pictured is a police officer in Venice patrolling the canal after the announcement that the city would be cancelling its flagship carnival
Tourists walk round Venice wearing face masks after the announcement that the city would be cancelling the last days of its renowned carnival
An empty street is seen in the town of Castiglione D’adda, which has been closed by the Italian government due to a coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy
A view of a deserted Codogno, one the northern Italian towns placed under lockdown due to the new coronavirus outbreak
A general view shows an empty street on February 23, 2020 in the small Italian town of Codogno under the shadow of a new coronavirus outbreak
A Carabinieri car patrols in Codogno, one the northern Italian towns placed under lockdown due to the new coronavirus outbreak
A person wearing a face mask rides a bicycle in the town of Codogno, which has been closed by the Italian government due to a coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy
The second patient to die was an elderly woman whose death has triggered the closing down of shops, offices and community centres in Casalpusterlengo, according to Italian news agency Ansa. Pictured are medical workers outside a hospital in Padua
Health workers and a patient are seen outside a hospital in Padua as ten towns in the region of Lombardy are under lockdown
Residents of the northern towns of Codogno and Castiglione d’Adda are being urged to stay at home as medical tests continue
Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala (right) and the Prefect of Milan Renato Saccone (left) during a press conference about the new coronavirus outbreak in Milan
The first town to be shuttered was Codogno, with a population of 15,000, where three people tested positive for the virus, including a 38-year-old man and his wife, who is eight months pregnant.
The 38-year-old, who works for Unilever in Lodi, is believed to have contracted the virus after meeting a friend who had recently returned from China in a bar.
He is now reportedly in a stable condition in hospital.
A football friend of his from his running club, the son of a bar owner in Codogno, has also tested positive, along with three regulars at the bar.
Cemetery closed due to Coronavirus emergency in Casalpusterlengo, one the northern Italian towns placed under lockdown
The second patient to die was a woman whose identity is yet to be released and has triggered the closing down of shops, offices and community centres in Codogno and Castiglione d’Adda (pictured)
A deserted street is pictured in Codogno, southeast of Milan, today after the cordons were put in place
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte at the Civil Protection headquarters for a meeting following the wave of coronavirus cases in northern Italy
Three others there have tested positive to a first novel coronavirus test and are awaiting their definitive results.
The three, all of whom are retired, live in the small town of Castiglione d’Adda.
Tests are underway on the 38-year-old’s doctor, who made a house call on him, as well as on 120 people he worked with in the research and development branch of Unilever in Casalpusterlengo, said Lombardy regional health chief Giulio Gallera.
Codogno mayor Francesco Passerini said the news of the cases ‘has sparked alarm’ throughout the town south of Milan.
Five doctors and 14 other people tested positive for the virus in Lombardy, after apparently frequenting the same bar, with two other cases in Veneto, authorities said at a press conference.
Over 50,000 people have been asked to stay at home in the areas concerned.
Word of the contagion sparked fears throughout the region, particularly given the closure of the emergency room at the Codogno hospital.
‘We are old and we are very concerned,’ said 76-year-old Codogno resident Carmelo Falcone.
A note reading ‘no entry’ hangs on the entrance door of the Codogno Hospital in Lodi
A note reading in Italian ‘Masks sold out’ and ‘pharmacy is open for urgencies but doors are closed’, hang on the window of a pharmacy in Codogno
A sign reading ‘Closed by Municipal Decree, for any orders call the following numbers’ is put up on a shop’s window in Codogno
‘I live on my own. I really don’t know what to do.’
Italian health minister Roberto Speranza said Italy is now seeing the same sort of ‘cluster’ of cases that Germany and France have seen.
He signed an ordinance with Lombardy’s regional president outlining measures to contain the cluster to the 10 towns so far affected: Codogno, Castiglione d’Adda, Casalpusterlengo, Maleo, Fombio, Bertonico, Castelgerundo, Terranova dei Passerini, Somaglia and San Fiorano.
A general view shows a deserted street in Codogno, southeast of Milan today
The towns, which have between 1,000-15,000 residents each, are located around 37 miles southeast of Milan, Lombardy’s capital and Italy’s business centre.
The ordinance suspends public gatherings, commercial and business activity, sport, education, and other recreational activities throughout the region, Mr Speranza, the health minister, said.
He defended the precautionary measures Italy took previously, noting that Italy remains the lone European country to have barred flights to and from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
‘We had the highest measures in Europe,’ he said.
Individual cities outside the core cordon area, such as Cremona, issued their own restrictions cancelling school after confirming their own cases.
Streets in the towns were deserted, with only a few people seen abroad, and signs showing public spaces closed.
In Casalpusterlengo, where the second patient died, a large electronic message board outside the town hall read ‘Coronavirus: the population is invited to remain indoors as a precaution’.
An elderly person on a stretcher is taken to an ambulance by members of the Italian Red Cross wearing face masks, outside the Codogno Civic Hospital in Lodi, northern Italy
Residents of the northern towns of Codogno and Castiglione d’Adda are being urged to stay at home as medical tests continue.
Some 250 people were being placed in isolation after coming into contact with the new cases, according to the Lombardy region, and 60 worker at Unilever have been tested for the virus.
The only other fatality in Europe was a Chinese tourist who died last week in France.
Earlier today, 19 Italians who spent more than two weeks quarantined on a virus-stricken cruise liner in Japan landed at Rome’s military Pratica di Mare airport. They had been stranded on the Diamond Princess since February 5.
Following the first health checks and decontamination process, the passengers were transferred to the military campus of Cecchignola where they will spend a 14-day isolation period.
In Rome, doctors at the Spallanzani infectious disease hospital reported some good news in the otherwise bleak day: An Italian who tested positive for the virus two weeks ago is to be released, and a sickened Chinese tourist has tested negative for the first time.
A note reading ‘no entry’ hangs on the entrance door of the Codogno Hospital in Lodi
In Casalpusterlengo, where the second patient died, a large electronic message board outside the town hall read ‘Coronavirus: the population is invited to remain indoors as a precaution’
Six Italians tested positive for the coronavirus yesterday (pictured is an ambulance transporting one of the patients) in the northern Italian region of Lombardy
Originating in the central Chinese city of Wuhan, the new virus has infected more than 75,400 people inside China and 78,572 globally. In the picture above, a security staff member checks a passenger’s temperature at Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport on January 26
Spallanzani had been caring for these patients for more than two weeks, Italy’s only cases until the clusters emerged in the north on Friday.
The World Health Organization (WHO) is concerned about the number of coronavirus cases with no clear epidemiological link, although the total number of cases outside China remains relatively small, its director general said on Saturday.
Cases with no clear link include those with no travel history to China or contact with a confirmed case, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Twitter.
According to reports, the disease remained mild in 80 per cent of coronavirus patients, and was severe or critical in 20 per cent of patients, he said. In 2 per cent of reported cases, the virus was fatal.
‘Our biggest concern continues to be the potential for COVID-19 to spread in countries with weaker health systems,’ he said. ‘We have also published a strategic preparedness and response plan, with a call for $675 million to support countries, especially those which are most vulnerable.’
The new Covid-19 coronavirus has so far killed 2,466 people and infected 78,888 people worldwide
Italian tourists from the cruise ship Diamond Princess arrive at Cecchignola Military headquarters after landing, in Rome
Italian tourists from the cruise ship Diamond Princess arrive at Cecchignola Military headquarters after landing, in Rome
An Italian military plane carrying European passengers who were evacuated from the coronavirus-stricken Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan, is seen on the runway after it landed at the Pratica di Mare military airport