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The last two days of the world-famous Venice Carnival have been cancelled as authorities scramble to contain the rapidly soaring number of new coronavirus infections in northern Italy.
Key points:
- The number of coronavirus cases in Italy have jumped to 100
- Authorities are struggling to work out how the outbreak started
- Smartraveller raised its advice levels for Japan and South Korea
The Venice Carnival draws tourists from around the world.
The head of the Veneto region, Luca Zaia, told reporters that events scheduled for Sunday (local time) in the lagoon city would continue as planned.
"But as of this evening there will be a ban on the Venice Carnival as well as on all events, sporting as well, until March 1 inclusive," he said.
Earlier, Mr Zaia reported the first two cases of coronavirus in Venice.
Coronavirus cases rise over 100
Italy scrambled on Sunday to contain the biggest outbreak of coronavirus in Europe, shutting off the worst affected towns and cancelling a string of public events as the number of those infected jumped above 100.
The government passed stringent emergency measures late on Saturday after the first two deaths from the disease were recorded in the wealthy northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto.
The number of certified cases of the illness in Lombardy rose to 89 from 54 a day earlier, while in Veneto some 24 people had come down with the virus, including two people in Venice, which is packed with tourists for the annual Carnival.
Health officials reported isolated cases in the neighbouring regions of Piedmont and Emilia Romagna, saying the total number of known infections in Italy was 132.
Almost a dozen towns in Lombardy and Veneto with a combined population of some 50,000 have effectively been placed under quarantine, with locals urged to stay home and special permission needed to enter or leave the designated areas.
Universities were shuttered across much of northern Italy until early March and soccer matches set for Sunday were postponed.
Lombardy and Veneto represent Italy's industrial heartland and jointly account for 30 per cent of gross domestic output, so any prolonged disruption there is likely to have a serious impact on the whole economy, which is already flirting with recession.
Lombardy, which is home to Italy's financial capital Milan, ordered all schools in the region to close, and said all public gatherings should be cancelled, including religious services.
Museums and public libraries will also be shut.
Fashion designer Giorgio Armani has said his fashion show scheduled to take place in Milan on Sunday would go ahead in an empty theatre without any press or buyers present.
Where is 'patient zero'?
Health authorities are struggling to work out how the outbreak started.
The first cases were announced only on Friday and doctors do not know the source of the illness.
Initial suspicion in Lombardy fell on a businessman recently returned from China, the epicentre of the new virus, but he has tested negative.
In Veneto, doctors tested a group of eight Chinese visitors who had been to the town that was home to the first fatality, but again, they all tested negative.
"We are (now) even more worried because if we cannot find 'patient zero' then it means the virus is even more ubiquitous than we thought," Mr Zaia said.
Prior to Friday, Italy had reported just three cases of the virus — all of them people who had recently arrived from the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus first emerged last year.
After the first confirmed cases, Italy suspended all direct flights to and from China, but did not keep tabs on those arriving from second countries.
Italy's far-right opposition League party has demanded the government reintroduce border controls to try to prevent new arrivals, but Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has rejected this.
Austria's Interior Minister Karl Nehammer said on Sunday that officials would meet on Monday to discuss whether Austria should unilaterally re-establish border controls with Italy.
Third death from Japan cruise ship
A third passenger from the coronavirus-infected Diamond Princess cruise ship in Japan died on Sunday, authorities said, as the government promised to introduce fresh steps to contain the outbreak.
The latest death was a Japanese man in his 80s, the health ministry said on its website, days after a couple also in their 80s died.
The government is facing growing questions about whether it is doing enough to stop the spread of the virus, which originated in China and has killed more than 2,400 there.
Tokyo is preparing to host the 2020 Summer Olympics in July.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said he would hold a meeting of experts on Monday and formulate a basic policy for addressing the disease on Tuesday.
Mr Kato apologised on Saturday for allowing an infected woman to leave the Diamond Princess, which has been quarantined in Yokohama since February 3.
The woman came ashore on Wednesday but then tested positive for the disease on Saturday in Tochigi Prefecture, north of Tokyo.
Mr Kato said on Saturday that officials had failed to properly test 23 people who disembarked the ship, and his ministry was trying to contact them to be retested.
The ship is owned by Carnival Corp and was originally carrying some 3,700 passengers and crew representing more than a dozen nationalities.
Some nations have flown their citizens home to undergo additional quarantines.
Japanese authorities have allowed some other passengers to leave, prompting concerns they could be spreading the virus in Japan.
There have been 634 infections on the ship, according to national broadcaster NHK. Those cases represent the largest concentration of the illness outside China.
Four new cases had been discovered in Japan as of early Sunday evening, bringing the total to 773, including the cruise ship, NHK reported.
The US State Department raised its travel advisory for Japan to Level 2 on its four-notch scale on Saturday because of what it termed "sustained community spread."
Smartraveller warns about travel to South Korea and Japan
The Australian Government agency Smartraveller is advising travellers to "exercise a high degree of caution" in Japan and South Korea due to a heightened risk of sustained local transmission of COVID-19.
It is also asking people to reconsider the need to travel to South Korea's Daegu and Cheongdo areas due to significant outbreaks of COVID-19 in those cities.
More on the coronavirus outbreak:
Reuters
Topics: travel-and-tourism, diseases-and-disorders, diseases, infectious-diseases-other, respiratory-diseases, health, disease-control, medical-sciences, italy, china, japan, korea-republic-of
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