Eleven Italian towns were on lockdown due to coronavirus on Sunday night as three deaths were attributed to the disease following a dramatic surge in cases.

Austria stopped all train services into Italy on Sunday night over concerns about the spread of the virus.

The “extraordinary measures”, announced by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte”, came as a frantic search was launched to find the elusive “patient zero” believed to have spread the virus, making Italy the first European country to deal with a significant outbreak.

Under the decree, approximately 50,000 people are now banned from leaving or entering the zones across the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto without permission.

At least 155 people have now tested positive for the virus, meaning Italy now has the fifth most cases of any country in the world.

The outbreak stoked fears that coronavirus could be carried into the UK by tourists returning from the ski resorts of the two northern provinces for half term holidays, although the Foreign Office does not believe any British citizens are trapped inside the quarantined towns themselves.

People wearing face masks leave a supermarket in the town of Casalpusterlengo, which has been closed by the Italian government due to a coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy credit: Reuters

Despite Italy now having more confirmed cases than four of the Asian countries on the Department of Health’s coronavirus watchlist, officials yesterday declined to update their vigilance advice to include it.

The new cases prompted the closure of schools and universities and forced Giorgio Armani to cancel its centre-piece runway show as Milan Fashion Week was thrown into chaos.

Meanwhile authorities cut short the Venice Carnival by two days, and cancelled the Scotland-Italy Women’s Six Nations clash.

The match had been scheduled to take place in Legnano, north of Milan.

Three men's Serie A football matches were also called off, including Inter Milan's hosting of Sampdoria.

Spectators wearing masks in the audience of the Dolce & Gabbana show in Milan credit: Getty Images Europe

Announcing the lockdown on Sunday, Mr Conte said: “We have adopted a decree to protect the health of Italians, which is our priority and which ranks first in the list of constitutional values.”

He urged people to “have faith in the political and scientific institutions, which are doing everything possible”.

The government-imposed quarantine in Lombardy and Veneto, which will last for at least two weeks.

Milan's Duomo Cathedral has been closed to tourists and mass has been suspended.

People in Milan, and Lombardy yesterday lined up outside supermarkets and grocery shops, where fresh meat, fruit and vegetables are becoming increasingly scarce.

Masks and hand disinfectants sold out almost everywhere in the northern regions of Italy.

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National and local authorities remained adamant yesterday that there is currently no risk of pandemic and that all the quarantine measures have been taken to avoid further contagion and to contain the virus within the so-called "red zones."

Angelo Borrelli, the head of Italy's Civil Protection Department, told reporters that 110 of the confirmed cases were in Lombardy, with 21 in Veneto with others in Emilia-Romagna and Lazio.

He also confirmed that the patient suspected to have spread the virus had not yet been identified.

Health workers wear protective face masks outside the hospital in Padua, Veneto region, northern Italy credit: Rex

The 38-year-old man who was the first case of infection registered in Lombardy had not himself been to China, but was in contact with a colleague who was there in late January.

The colleague has tested negative to the new coronavirus, however.

“Unfortunately, the person who was considered to be ‘patient zero’ was not,” said Attilio Fontana, the president of Lombardy.

“We need to look elsewhere. We are following two hypotheses, and we will try to understand if one of the two is correct.”

Milan Mayor Giuseppe Sala (R) and the Prefect of Milan Renato Saccone (L) during a press conference about the new coronavirus outbreak in Milan, northern Italy credit: Rex

Officials reported the third death on Sunday, an elderly woman from the town of Crema who had been suffering from cancer.

The Lombardy region announced on Sunday morning that all schools, including universities in Italy’s financial capital Milan – will be closed until further notice.

The Veneto region also closed schools, fairs, museums, and suspended public events, including Venice’s world-known Carnival celebrations, until March 1.

Prof Paul Hunter, Professor in Medicine at the University of East Anglia (UEA), told The Telegraph: "The identification of the large cluster of cases in Italy yesterday is a big worry for Europe and we can expect there to by quite a few more cases identified in the next few days.

“All the evidence from elsewhere in the world is that the first day seems bad but it pales into insignificance by day three.

“What is worrying is that it is spreading quite quickly over a large area, and they don’t know how it started."

Reports emerged yesterday of scuffles prompted by the lockdown after shoppers were made to queue outside and then only allowed in in small groups to stock up on provisions.

One man in the town of Casalpusterlengo, a 10-minute drive from Codogno, thought to be the epicentre of the north Italian outbreak, said: “It’s inhuman. Fighting over four sandwiches is just disgusting.”