bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Associated Press

Two deaths from the new coronavirus sparked fears throughout northern Italy on Saturday, as towns closed shops and schools to try to halt a rise in new infections.
The death of a 75-year-old woman on Saturday near the small town of Codogno in Lombardy came one day after a 78-year-old man succumbed to the virus in the neighbouring region of Veneto, marking the first in Italy and Europe.
In Lombardy, health officials confirmed 39 cases of the virus that first emerged in China, with another 12 in Veneto.
“The contagiousness of this virus is very strong and pretty virulent,” Lombardy’s health chief Giulio Gallera told a press conference on Saturday.
But he cautioned: “Today it’s not a pandemic.”
He said health authorities had identified “patient number one”, a 38-year-old man in intensive care in Codogno.
All cases in the region are connected to him, Gallera said, whether medical workers, relatives or friends, he said. The man’s wife has also tested positive for the virus.
Italian media have reported that the man dined in January with a friend who had returned from China, but the friend has since tested negative for the virus.


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 government was considering “extraordinary measures” to fight the onslaught of new cases, Conte said on Facebook.
More than 50,000 people from about a dozen towns in the two northern regions were asked to stay at home by the local authorities.
In Codogno, streets were mostly deserted and few shops were open after the mayor put the town of 15,000 on temporary lockdown on Friday.
One man in the street, who gave his name as Alberto, said there was a “muffled silence” in town.
“I don’t have a mask because they ran out in the pharmacy, but I’m taking precautions,” said the 68-year-old.
“When I meet someone, I talk to them keeping my distance, or I take the long way around to get home so I don’t run into anyone.”

“No entry” read the sign outside Codogno’s emergency room.
Only a bakery and a few businesses were open, with many shops posting signs saying they were closed due to the lockdown, which could last as long as five days.
In the nearby region of Veneto, a 78-year-old retired bricklayer from the Padua area died on Friday, becoming the first local person in Europe to die from what has been named Covid-19 by the World Health Organisation.
Italy’s health minister said the man, Adriano Trevisan, had been admitted to hospital 10 days earlier for an unrelated health issue.
How Chinatowns are coping with the coronavirus fallout
The president of Veneto, Luca Zaia, had told RaiNews 24 earlier Saturday that none of those infected with the virus in the region had been in contact with anyone who had recently arrived from China.
Two Chinese tourists are still being treated for the virus in isolation in Rome. A third man who was also quarantined has since recovered, but is still being held at the same hospital, the Spallanzani Institute in Rome.
In the areas under lockdown in northern Italy, public activities such as carnival celebrations, church masses and sporting events have been banned for up to a week.
In the town of Casalpusterlegno, a hoarding instructed residents “to stay in your own homes”.
In most towns, bars, restaurants and libraries have been closed, and in the small city of Cremona, about 25 minutes east of Codogno, school has been cancelled.
Separately on Saturday, 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.
Since December, Covid-19 has killed more than 2,200 people in China, the epidemic’s epicentre.
Elsewhere in the world, it has killed over a dozen people and spread across some 27 countries and territories. Last Sunday, an 80-year-old Chinese tourist died from the new coronavirus in France.


Hong Kong’s Peninsula Hotels sees ‘bleisure’ boom after pandemic curbs, CEO says

US could require US$15,000 bonds for some tourist, business visas

China’s Shenzhen, Guangzhou airports hit record highs, surpass pre-Covid passenger levels

Landmark US Chinatown survived Covid, anti-Asian violence – but tariffs pose new threat

Coronavirus pandemic

Second coronavirus death sparks fears, lockdown in Italian towns

A deserted street in the city of Codogno, northern Italy. Photo: EPA-EFE

epa08234861 A deserted street in the city of Codogno, northern Italy, 21 February 2020. Lombardy health councilor Giulio Gallera urged residents of Codogno to stay at home and avoid social contact after the first six people have been infected with the coronavirus in Italy, all in the region of Lombardy. Gallera added that some 250 people had been placed in isolation and would be tested for the deadly virus. Authorities are trying to establish whether the second batch of three cases were linked to an initial trio in Lodi, northern Italy. EPA-EFE/ANDREA FASANI

A member of the Italian Red Cross prepares a stretcher outside the Codogno Civic Hospital in Lodi, northern Italy, on Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Coronavirus: how Chinatowns from Milan to London are coping with the fallout

A restaurant in normally bustling London Chinatown, where business has fallen by up to 50 per cent. Photo: AFP

(FILES) This file photo taken on February 13, 2020 shows a worker wearing a surgical face mask in London's Chinatown district. - Bustling century-old Chinatowns from Melbourne to San Francisco have fallen quiet and businesses are struggling to survive as fears over the deadly novel coronavirus outbreak ripple around the world. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) / TO GO WITH Australia-China-virus-health-economy,FOCUS by Sean GLEESON

(FILES) This file photo taken on February 13, 2020 shows a visitor wearing a face mask as she walks through London's Chinatown district. - Bustling century-old Chinatowns from Melbourne to San Francisco have fallen quiet and businesses are struggling to survive as fears over the deadly novel coronavirus outbreak ripple around the world. (Photo by DANIEL LEAL-OLIVAS / AFP) / TO GO WITH Australia-China-virus-health-economy,FOCUS by Sean GLEESON

Wing Poon, manager of the Tao Tao Ju restaurant in London's Chinatown. Photo: Hilary Clarke

In this Feb. 13, 2020, photo, Frankie Chu, owner of Vegetarian Dim Sum House in New York's Chinatown, sits in his empty restaurant usually bustling with customers, in New York. Sales have plunged 70% over the last two weeks, "I don't know how long I can stay here," Chu said. "After 9/11, it wasn't this bad." (AP Photo/Bebeto Matthews)

Italy denies China’s claims of easing coronavirus flight ban

Staff at Leonardo Da Vinci airport, Rome check the temperature of arrive passengers. Photo: EPA-EFE

Chinese medical expert warns recovered coronavirus patients may still be contagious

Traces of the coronavirus have been found in patients who have recovered. Photo: AP

(200220) -- WUHAN, Feb. 20, 2020 (Xinhua) -- Zhao Jianping (2nd R), a respiratory and critical care specialist from the Wuhan-based Tongji Hospital, examines the CT result of a patient at the severe case ward in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province, Feb. 18, 2020. (Xinhua/Wang Yuguo)

News

World

Europe


The death of a woman in the northern region of Lombardy follows that of a 78-year-old man who died on Friday
The new wave of cases in Italy’s northern regions have triggered shutdowns of bars, shops and other businesses



The death of a woman in the northern region of Lombardy follows that of a 78-year-old man who died on Friday.
