Italy battles Europe’s worst coronavirus outbreak

Italy locked down the Lombardy region, halting life for around 50,000 people in 10 towns, after more than 150 coronavirus cases appeared in the country in just a few days. Three people have died and 26 were in intensive care, asEurope began confronting one of the most serious tests yet of open borders.

Towns were being blockaded and isolation camps planned, as Venice’s iconic Carnival was canceled and fear permeated Milan Fashion Week. Here are the main developments around the world from the weekend:

President Moon Jae-in put South Korea on high alert, a move that empowers the government to lock down cities, after more than 760 cases of the virus were confirmed. Many of them were traced to a secretive religious sect.

The third death linked to the Diamond Princess cruise ship, long quarantined in Japan, was reported, as the number of confirmed cases among passengers and crew members reached 691. (Here’s how a luxury vacation turned into an epidemiological nightmare.)

Several countries closed their borders with Iran, which has reported the highest number of deaths outside China — eight people, according to state media.

The World Health Organization told African leaders they needed to prepare for the virus.

Here’s the latest, maps of where the virus has spread and tips for travelers.

A spread ‘much faster than I expected’

Amid all of those developments, it seemed like a good time to get a little perspective. We sat down with our infectious diseases reporter, Donald G. McNeil Jr., who has covered epidemics and pandemics for nearly two decades.

What worries you about this virus?

It’s more deadly than flu, and it’s spreading like flu. Maybe not quite as fast, but these cases where hundreds of people all were infected in one church or aboard the Diamond Princess — that was scary. That was much faster than I expected.