
Commuters and shoppers have been keeping their distance across Italy as part of strict new rules to stop the coronavirus outbreak that has gripped the country.

Italian streets and piazzas were empty today while shoppers crammed into supermarkets to stock up for a lengthy quarantine as the country began an unprecedented nationwide lockdown.

Queues stretched outside the shops because of a new rule which demands that people stay three feet away from each other in public places, meaning only a limited number can go inside at once.

Tourist favourites including Milan's shopping galleries, Rome's Spanish Steps and Vatican's St Peter's Square were all but deserted after the drastic coronavirus quarantine measures were extended to the entire country on Monday night.

In Naples, police were roaming the streets with a loudhailer last night to warn people to 'stay indoors, avoid unnecessary outings and avoid crowded places' because of the 'coronavirus emergency'.

Prime minister Giuseppe Conte declared last night that 'everyone must give up something to protect the health of citizens'.

This evening, Italy's Civil Protection Agency revealed the death toll from the outbreak had jumped by 168 to 631, an increase of 36 per cent. The total number of cases in Italy rose to 10,149 from a previous 9,172, an increase of 10.7 per cent.

Anyone with a fever has been ordered to stay indoors with travel banned except in emergencies and public gatherings including weddings, funerals and sports fixtures shut down. Almost 50 people are already facing fines for holding a rogue funeral in Sicily today.

Customers keep a 3ft distance between them - as Italians have been urged to do by the new quarantine rules - while lining up to enter a post office in Rome this morning

Commuters, some wearing respiratory masks, travelling in the underground metro in downtown Milan and sitting 3ft apart

Medical personnel working inside one of the emergency structures that were set up to ease procedures outside the hospital of Brescia on Monday

Soldiers at a train station in Brennero on the Italy-Austria border today. Since Tuesday morning Italy has been on lockdown until April 3 in a bid to try to avoid a pandemic spreading

Empty central Milan today as Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced on Monday the extending of coronavirus quarantine measures to the entire country

Piazza del Popolo in Rome today after Italy imposed unprecedented national restrictions on its 60 million people on Tuesday to control the deadly COVID-19

The empty Navigli area, a system of navigable and interconnected canals, in Milan today as tourists and residents stayed away from the usually bustling area

Tourists standing behind barriers after the Vatican's Saint Peter's Square and its main basilica were closed to visitors from today until April 3

People wearing face masks being checked by the Italian Army and Italian Police at the Termini Central train Station in Rome during the coronavirus emergency

Spain's virus cases surged to 1,622 infections and 35 deaths today and Italy recorded 168 fatalities as Europe was engulfed by the deadly virus

The virus is spreading so quickly that doctors are now having to make life-or-death decisions about who gets access to intensive care.

Medics have described 'overwhelmed' hospitals in northern Italy where non-virus cases are sidelined, elderly patients are not properly assessed and overworked doctors are left 'in tears'.

British Airways and Jet2 have today cancelled all their hundreds of flights to and from Italy until April at the earliest and easyJet has grounded most services – but people are still flowing into Britain from without checks.

BA has axed its 60 flights a day to cities including Milan, Venice and Rome while Jet2 has gone even further and cancelled its services for almost two months until April 26.

EasyJet has stopped the majority of its flights to northern Italy but planes will still fly from southern cities such as Rome and Naples despite the blanket travel ban imposed by the Italian government.

The UK government has now advised Britons against all but essential travel to the country, but Italian airports remain open. Public Health England says airline cabin crews have been trained to spot virus symptoms.

Many British travellers returning home from Italy told MailOnline today they had no idea the Government was now demanding they go into self-isolation for 14 days as soon as they land in the UK. They must also find their way home by public transport if they are not driving themselves home.

Uber driver Francesco Stabile told MailOnline at Stansted today that he had 'no idea' about the 14-day self-isolation advice after visiting his girlfriend in Italy.

Mr Stabile 38, who has lived in Letchworth for the past 16 years, said he was keen to get back to work, adding: 'I am an Uber driver. I go to Italy every two weeks to visit my girlfriend. I have received information from the Foreign Office but I don't know anything about self-isolating. I am feeling well. I have nothing wrong with me.'

The Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II in Milan - one of the city's famous shopping galleries - is nearly deserted today with Italy beginning an unprecedented nationwide lockdown to tackle the coronavirus outbreak

Pigeons are the only crowd in sight in Milan's Piazza del Duomo today, usually a tourist hotspot. The Duomo cathedral was already closed because of the coronavirus outbreak

A police car is parked near the Spanish Steps in Rome, which are usually a popular place for tourists to sit but are nearly deserted today because of the quarantine

The empty Milan canal area today after the whole of Italy went into lockdown in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus

Two people look at a deserted St Peter's Square in the Vatican today after the quarantine was extended to the whole of Italy

A nearly empty car park at a deserted shopping centre in Turin this morning, in northern Italy at the centre of the outbreak

Italians pack supplies of groceries into overloaded shopping trolleys at a supermarket in Rome this morning as they prepare for a weeks-long quarantine after Italy's lockdown was extended nationwide

Uber driver Francesco Stabile (left), from Letchworth, Hertfordshire, arrived at Stansted Airport from Italy today. He said he did not know about the UK's new demand for a 14-day self-isolation period after returning from Italy. Pictured right are newlyweds Sam Welch, 34 and his wife Jasmine, 30, who cut short their Venetian honeymoon to return home to Norfolk

A crowd of people with shopping trolleys, some of them wearing masks, gather outside a supermarket in Rome this morning

Italian couple Michele and Eleonora (pictured left), from Sardinia, and retired British greengrocer Martin Rudd, from Leigh on Sea in Essex, stand in the arrivals hall at London Stansted Airport today

What are the rules of Italy's new quarantine? Prime minister Giuseppe Conte said last night's decree could be 'summarised as follows: I stay at home'. Here are the rules under the new decree. THE SICK MUST STAY AT HOME People who have tested positive for coronavirus must not leave their homes for any reason. Anyone with a fever or respiratory symptoms is urged to stay at home and limit social contact, including with their doctor. NO TRAVEL ACROSS ITALY Travel is only allowed for 'urgent, verifiable work situations and emergencies or health reasons'. Grocery shopping is considered a 'necessity' and still allowed. To avoid work-related travel, public and private companies have been urged to put their staff on leave. However, it was not immediately clear how the new measures would be enforced. Trains and numerous flights continued to operate into and out of Milan on Monday despite the earlier restrictions in Lombardy. Public transport will remain operational, but Conte says he wants as many people as possible to stay at home. People who do want to travel will need to fill in a document explaining their reasons for doing so and carry it with them. If they are found to have lied they face fines or jail terms. But they will generally work on an honour system. People will also be allowed to travel to return home. NO PUBLIC GATHERINGS 'All forms of gatherings in public places or sites open to the public' are banned, the decree says. Cinemas, museums, theatres, pubs, dance schools, betting shops and discos are all closed. Weddings and funerals are banned. Schools and universities will remain shut until April 3. Bars and restaurants were only allowed to open between 8am and 6pm, the decree said, and only if a distance of at least 3ft could be kept between customers. Sporting events of all levels and disciplines were cancelled - stopping play in the Serie A football league. Fixtures in international competitions can go ahead but will be played behind closed doors. Gyms, sports centres, swimming pools, spas and leisure centres must close. SHOPS MUST KEEP 3FT DISTANCE Shops can remain open but only if they can guarantee the 3ft safety distance for customers. Big and mid-sized shopping centres have to close at the weekend. Food stores are allowed to remain open at all hours. NO LEAVE FOR HEALTH WORKERS Leave for health workers is cancelled. People accompanying their friends or relatives to emergency units are not allowed to stay with them in the waiting rooms without express permission. ALL OF ITALY IS COVERED The entire country, including the islands of Sicily and Sardinia, is covered by the decree - covering a total population of some 60million people. Advertisement

Some flights from Italy bound for the US were also going ahead today.

At least three flights from Rome had already departed for America as of 7am EST (11am UK time) - bound for Miami, Atlanta and New York's Newark Liberty airport.

Another flight from Milan, at the center of Italy's outbreak, to Newark was also scheduled to go ahead having been delayed from the previous day.

New York's JFK airport had cancelled two flights from Milan as of Tuesday morning, with a third Emirates flight due to arrive at 7pm still showing as 'scheduled' though it is far from clear whether it will go ahead.

On Monday night, passengers arriving in the US still faced no screening.

Just one flight landed in America last night: Emirates Flight 205 from Milan, which arrived at JFK at 7.53pm.

The new restrictions shutting down Italy were announced while the passenger jet was in the air.

But travellers were furious at the lack of checks in US airports, noting that no one was being screened for COVID-19 symptoms upon landing.

'My friend just landed at JFK from Italy and they didn't even check her or anyone on her plane but they checked the plane from China. Even though all of Italy just got shut down makes total sense!' a Twitter user named Kimberly sarcastically posted Monday night.

Huge numbers of flights from Italy to the US have been cancelled, but more are scheduled for the forthcoming days.

Marjorie Perrelli Day tweeted at JFK's Twitter account: 'I have friends coming from Italy today from Rome. What will they have to do since Italy is now totally shut down. People have been tweeting that JFK has zero screening. So can you explain this?'

Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz said today his country was putting in place 'an entry ban for people from Italy to Austria, unless they have a doctor's certificate'.

Austrians in neighbouring Italy will be allowed to return as long as they agree to a two-week home quarantine, he added. Interior minister Karl Nehammer said trains and flights from Italy to Austria would be stopped.

The measure follows growing calls for greater border controls within Europe, although the EU has maintained it has no plans to scrap the Schengen border-free zone.

Spain today decided to cancel all direct flights from Italy for two weeks in a bid to stop the spread of the coronavirus, while Malta has stopped all travel links with Italy, its nearest neighbour and main source of food and other essentials.

However, most governments are still allowing flights - effectively leaving it to airlines to decide.

Saudi Arabia is one exception, after the government halted flights between the kingdom and eight countries including Italy.

Lebanon has also halted flights from several countries including Italy, although Lebanese citizens and residents are exempted. Kenya's government has suspended flights from northern Italy.

Budapest-based low-cost carrier Wizz Air said today it is cancelling all flights to and from Italy and Israel due to measures announced by those countries to prevent the spread of the virus.

A man in a face mask pulls a cart along a street in Rome under the watchful eyes of Italian soldiers on the pavement today

A man pushes an overflowing shopping trolley near a shop in Rome today despite one doctor's warning against stocking up

Panic-buying: People cram into a supermarket in Rome this morning, some of them wearing face masks, after Italy expanded its drastic quarantine measures nationwide

People queue for groceries at a supermarket in Rome last night, with the unprecedented quarantine due to last until April 3

The Pope celebrates Mass in an empty chapel this morning, a week after the 83-year-old pontiff cancelled a series of events over health fears

The Vittorio Emanuele II shopping gallery in Milan - usually full of tourists - is almost empty on Tuesday morning

A man wearing a protective face mask walks next to the Trevi fountain in Rome this morning - an area usually full of tourists

Passengers arrive at Stansted Airport from Italy on Tuesday lunchtime, with no health checks taking place on arrival

Pope urges priests to visit patients as he holds live-streamed Mass by himself Pope Francis today urged Catholic priests to visit people suffering from coronavirus despite a ban on most travel across Italy. Francis prayed that clergymen would 'have the courage to go out and go to the sick people' as he celebrated Mass by himself at the Vatican this morning. The service in the chapel of Francis' residence was live-streamed by the Vatican today, with the 83-year-old pontiff avoiding public gatherings. 'Let us pray to the Lord also for our priests, that they may have the courage to go out and go to the sick people bringing the strength of God's word and the Eucharist and accompany the health workers and volunteers in this work that they are doing,' Francis said. Francis also prayed for Italy's thousands of sick patients and the doctors and nurses who are caring for them in his homily today. His service today, held in the chapel of the Santa Marta guest house where he lives, came just hours after Italy extended its quarantine measures to the whole country. The pope last week cancelled a series of events after suffering from a cold during an Ash Wednesday service. Fears were raised after Francis was pictured hugging and kissing members of the public after speaking with a hoarse voice and blowing his nose in church. However, the pontiff is thought to have tested negative for coronavirus last week. He resumed some private meetings yesterday, including with bishops from France and two departing ambassadors. Advertisement

It comes as Italy faces being overwhelmed by the scale of the outbreak with doctors making comparisons to wartime triage medics deciding who lives, who dies and who gets access to the limited number of beds.

Italian health officials had warned on Saturday that the northern Lombardy region was starting to run out of hospital beds for its intensive care patients.

The government also began to recall retired doctors as part of an effort to quickly bolster the health service with 20,000 staff.

Ethics rules call on doctors to consider a patient's age and their chance of survival when allocating hospital beds.

The Italian society of anaesthesiology and intensive care has published 15 ethical recommendations to consider for doctors when deciding on admissions.

The criteria include the patient's age and the likelihood of survival, and not just 'first come first served.'

'It's a reasoning that our colleagues make,' Dr. Guido Giustetto, head of the association of doctors in northern Piedmont, said yesterday.

'It becomes dramatic if, rather than doing it under normal situations, they do it because the beds are so scarce that someone might not have access to medical care.'

Italy expanded its quarantine measures to all 60million people in the country last night after a lockdown in the hardest-hit north, including Milan and Venice, had failed to slow the outbreak.

'Our habits must be changed, changed now. We all have to give up something for the good of Italy,' prime minister Conte said.

'When I speak of Italy, I speak of our dear ones, of our grandparents and of our parents,' he said.

'We will succeed only if we all collaborate and we adapt right away to these more stringent norms.'

Conte also raged at young people who had continued to gather socially as the virus spread, saying 'this night life ... we can't allow this any more.'

A nun walks past a deserted St Peter's Square in Vatican City this morning, with the quarantine now extended southwards

Customers line up to go shopping at a supermarket in Rome today, pushing trolleys to stock up for a lengthy quarantine

Professor Della Giusta, from the Piedmont region in the north-west of the country, said many people did not take self-isolation measures very seriously when schools were first closed in northern regions a few weeks ago.

'When schools got shut in Lombardy a lot of people just took their kids and went off on holiday to their holiday homes in the mountains and at the seaside in the other regions,' he said.

'They thought they were making their kids safe by taking them away, but this kind of behaviour is really very damaging.'

The EU on Tuesday praised Italy for taking 'bold' steps to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, adding that Brussels would do all in its power to help.

'We commend the Italian authorities for the very courageous measures they are taking,' European Commission executive vice president Valdis Dombrovskis told reporters.

'We know that they will put a great strain on the Italian people, but it's better to take those bold measures now to protect as many people as possible from the virus,' he said.

Almost 50 people in Sicily are already facing stiff fines for holding an illegal funeral despite the ban on public gatherings, media reports said today.

The sombre procession was moving through the streets of Porto Empedocle on the island's southwestern coast when the carabinieri police were alerted by a passerby, the AGI news agency said.

One Italian doctor, Daniele Macchini, has warned that people should 'not go en masse to stock up in supermarkets: it is the worst thing because you concentrate and the risk of contacts with infected people who do not know they are higher. You can go there as you usually do.'

But his warnings fell on deaf ears today as worried shoppers were pictured queuing outside supermarkets and pushing overflowing shopping trolleys to stock up for the quarantine.

Some Italians used the open border to Slovenia to do their usual shopping on Tuesday, despite the travel restrictions imposed from Rome.

Italians from the area around the city of Trieste in north-east Italy often cross the border to Slovenia to fill their cars with cheaper fuel and do their shopping.

Warning: Authorities were roaming around Naples last night (pictured) with a loudhailer that told people to stay indoors because of the 'coronavirus emergency'

People wearing masks buy groceries at a supermarket in Italy today with people stocking up for a lengthy quarantine

Doctor describes horrors at 'overwhelmed' Italian hospitals Italian hospitals are so 'overwhelmed' by coronavirus that strokes are going untreated and elderly patients are not even being assessed, a doctor at the centre of the crisis has said - while another medic said people should be panicking more. Doctors in Italy have been forced into life-or-death decisions over who should receive intensive care, with virus cases piling up around the country. A medic in northern Italy told a friend in the UK that hospitals were running at '200 per cent capacity' with operating theatres hurriedly converted into intensive care units. Non-coronavirus cases are being sidelined with some medics being given a 'leaflet' and told to perform specialist tasks for which they are not qualified, while some patients over 65 are not even being assessed, the doctor said. In addition, medical staff themselves are becoming 'sick and emotionally overwhelmed' and left 'in tears' because they cannot stop people dying, they said. The medic's comments were published in a Twitter thread by UK-based friend Jason van Schoor, an anaesthetist and clinical fellow at University College London. The doctor also issued a warning for the UK, saying that the Italian chaos would repeat itself in Britain 'if you don't take it seriously'. His warning was echoed by a second doctor who suggested people should be more scared, saying that overzealous warnings to remain calm meant 'the danger of what is happening does not reach people'. Experts have suggested that the UK outbreak is around two weeks behind that in Italy, meaning Britain could be heading for a similar nightmare within a fortnight. Advertisement

The nationwide restrictions mean that all schools and universities will remain closed until April 3, with cafes, pubs and eateries ordered to close until dusk.

Italians have been ordered not to move around the country except for work and emergencies, with public gatherings and Serie A football matches cancelled.

The streets of Rome were much quieter than normal this morning, with cars moving freely under a clear blue sky in the normally traffic-clogged centre.

Rome commuters could easily find seats in the usually jam-packed underground system during the morning rush hour today.

In Milan, checkpoints were set up at the city's central railway station to screen travellers for the first time. People at the station were required to sign a police form, self-certifying why they were traveling.

'Until a few days ago, the thinking was the alarm would pass in some weeks, we just need to follow the rules. Now we need to explain to citizens that the situation is very, very serious, our hospitals are at the point of collapse,' the mayor of the Lombardy city of Bergamo, Giorgio Gori, told RAI state television.

Meanwhile, payments on mortgages will be suspended across the whole of Italy, the country's deputy economy minister said today in the latest effort to manage the economic impact of the crisis.

'Yes, that will be the case, for individuals and households,' Laura Castelli said in an interview with Radio Anch'io, when asked about the possibility.

Italy's banking lobby ABI said yesterday that most lenders would offer debt moratoriums to small firms and households grappling with the economic fallout.

The government has also drawn up plans for an economic stimulus and has led calls for the EU to loosen budget rules to tackle the crisis.

On Monday, the Milan stock exchange dropped over 11 per cent and Italy's borrowing costs shot up, reviving fears that an economy already struggling under the eurozone's second-heaviest debt pile could be plunged into crisis.

Industry minister Stefano Patuanelli said today that the government would approve measures worth around 10 billion euros. Conte has already promised 'massive shock therapy' to help deal with the immediate impact.

Pigeons are the only large group of visitors on the Piazza del Duomo in Milan this morning, next to the cathedral which had already been closed because of the coronavirus outbreak

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte during a press conference at Chigi Palace in Rome last night where he announced the latest quarantine measures

Doctors work at a hospital in Schiavonia in northern Italy with more than 9,000 coronavirus cases now confirmed in the country in the worst outbreak outside China and South Korea

Shoppers stock up on food in Rome this morning as they prepare for a quarantine which is due to last until at least April 3

A view of the mostly deserted Via Dante pedestrian street in central Milan this morning

Footage showed long queues of panic-buyers with shopping trolleys outside 24-hour supermarkets in Rome and Naples

A cyclist shows his paperwork during police and military checks at the central station in Milan yesterday - with all three people wearing masks

It comes with China beginning to scale down its virus operation, closing the temporary hospitals which sprung up in Wuhan where the outbreak began in December last year.

'Now that the virus has a foothold in so many countries, the threat of a pandemic has become very real,' WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said.

But he welcomed Italy's tough measures, noting that just four countries - China, South Korea, Italy and Iran - accounted for 93 per cent of cases worldwide.

'It would be the first pandemic that could be controlled,' Tedros added. 'The bottom line is we are not at the mercy of the virus.'

The Lombardy government has been scrambling to increase its intensive care capacity, converting operating and recovery rooms into isolated wards.

It has cobbled together 150 more beds in the last two weeks and expects another 150 in the coming week.

'Unfortunately we're only at the beginning,' said Dr. Massimo Galli, head of infectious disease at Milan's Sacco hospital.

Speaking to SkyTg24, Galli said the numbers of infections registered in Lombardy last week were similar to those in Wuhan, China in late January.

Galli noted that Wuhan, the center of China's outbreak that infected more than 80,000 people nationwide, is a concentrated metropolis of 11 million and Lombardy is spread out.

But the numbers 'tell you that the diffusion is a real possibility,' he warned.

Pope Francis gathers his thoughts during a live-streamed Mass at his Vatican guest house today, which he celebrated alone

Francis holds up a Communion wafer during his solitary Mass at the Vatican this morning where he urged priests to visit coronavirus sufferers

A soldier holds his gun near the Duomo cathedral in Milan this morning with the whole of Italy now in lockdown

A largely deserted road in Milan today, although a tram is still running - with public transport continuing to operate

A masked man checks a person's paperwork at Milan central station yesterday

A supermarket worker wearing a protective face mask is pictured through a window in Naples

People queue with trolleys outside a 24-hour supermarket in Rome in the early hours of this morning following the lockdown

Italy suspends mortgage payments in the wake of coronavirus outbreak's economic impact Payments on mortgages will be suspended across the whole of Italy after the coronavirus outbreak, the country's deputy economy minister said today. 'Yes, that will be the case, for individuals and households,' Laura Castelli said in an interview with Radio Anch'io, when asked about the possibility. Italy's banking lobby ABI has said that lenders representing 90 per cent of total banking assets would offer debt moratoriums to small firms and households grappling with the economic fallout. The news comes as Italy announced that it had doubled the amount it plans to spend on tackling its coronavirus outbreak to £6.5billion and is raising this year's deficit goal to 2.5 per cent of national output from the current 2.2 per cent target. Speaking to La Repubblica, prime minister Conte yesterday vowed a course of 'massive shock therapy' to aid the Italian economy after much of its industrial and business heartland was shut down. The Milan stock market, which was already down some 17 per cent since the outbreak in northern Italy, plunged at Monday's opening, with the blue chip FTMIB index down 11 per cent. Matching similar calls from France, Conte said strict European Union borrowing limits should be loosened to allow more room for manoeuvre, and that the flexibility envisaged by the EU's budget rules should be used 'in full'. 'Europe cannot think of confronting an extraordinary situation with ordinary measures,' he said. The European Commission told Italy on Saturday that its planned extra spending in response to the outbreak would not be counted in measuring its compliance with EU budget rules. 'The economic measures in the works will be vigorous, commensurate to current needs, but temporary,' the economy ministry said, adding that Italy remained committed to reducing its debt as soon as possible. Advertisement

Paul Hunter, professor in medicine at the University of East Anglia, said: 'The recent extension of Covid-19 controls in Italy represent one of the most rigorous country-wide control measures implemented in the last 50 years.

'Whilst we have seen in Wuhan that such intensive social distancing can bring the epidemic under control, it is far from clear how long this may need to be maintained in the Italian context.

'Unlike the situation in Wuhan where there was the possibility that the global epidemic could be prevented, Covid-19 is already spreading globally. So when the restrictions in Italy are eased there may still be a large number of cases in nearby countries that could lead to spread back into Italy.

'Would this degree of restriction be appropriate for the UK? Probably not as we are currently seeing a much more gradual increase in numbers and these are already distributed throughout the UK, unlike the situation in Italy where cases were concentrated in a single region.

'More rigorous social distancing measures are likely to be implemented in the UK over coming days or weeks as case numbers increase. But the timing of their introduction will be chosen to hopefully maximise the benefit whilst minimising the harm to British society.'

Lazio, the region surrounding the capital Rome, saw its cases jump from 87 to 102 in a day, a sign that the virus was propagating far from the northern concentrations.

Also alarming was Italy's high fatality rate: When earlier figures of 463 dead and 9,172 infected were released, Italy's fatality rate was running at five per cent, higher than the 3-4 per cent elsewhere.

Dr Giovanni Rezza, head of infectious disease at the National Institutes of Health, attributed it to the fact that Italy has the world's oldest population after Japan.

The median age of Italy's virus-related dead is 80.

But some younger people have also been in intensive care, including the first person to test positive in the north who had not been to China.

The 38-year-old Unilever worker named Mattia came to be known in Italy as Patient No 1.

At the San Matteo hospital in Pavia, there was a sigh of relief after Mattia began breathing on his own Monday with just a small amount of oxygen assistance.

He was moved out of intensive care to a sub-ICU unit and was speaking with doctors.

'This disease has a long life,' intensive care chief Dr Francesco Mojoli told RAI state television.

'Now we hope that the fact that he was young and in good shape will help him get back to his normal life.'

The nearly deserted Corso Venezia street in Milan this morning, with northern Italy at the centre of the outbreak

A waitress in Milan looks on by a sign advising clients to keep their distance from each other, under Italy's new quarantine rules

This picture shows the Via Dante and Cordusio metro station in Milan today with only a handful of people walking around

A woman stands by a stall at Campo dei Fiori open-air market, in Rome, after the lockdown was extended from the north

A man wearing a respiratory mask shops at a fruit and vegetable market in Rome on Tuesday morning