22:53

My colleague Lorenzo Tondo has more on the latest in Italy:

Italy’s government has just announced the closure of all “non-essential production activities” across the country, after the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rose by 793 to 4,825 on Saturday.

“Grocery stores and pharmacies will remain open,” said the prime minister, Giuseppe Conte. “But all the rest of the non-essential production activities, including plants and offices, will close down. This is Italy’s most difficult challenge after WWII. If we stick together, we’ll get through this.”

Rumours of closures of all non-essential commercial activities, including plants and offices, have circulated in the last few days, following complaints by workers who were still having to leave their houses. Several regional governors have already ordered the closure of supermarkets at the weekend.

Authorities in northern Italy ordered the deployment of hundreds of soldiers to oversee containment measures in the coronavirus crisis.

Italian police have so far pressed charges against more than 60,000 people for violating the lockdown, according to figures from the interior ministry.