British Airways and Ryanair are to suspend all flights to and from Italy after the entire nation was placed in lockdown in response to the coronavirus outbreak.

All public gatherings have been banned, sports events including football matches are suspended, and movement is being severely restricted across Italy in a bid to contain COVID-19, the disease caused by coronavirus.

People were frantically buying up food and other essentials at supermarkets shortly after the announcement, Italian media reported.

Italy is Europe's worst-hit nation in the outbreak with 463 virus-related deaths, an increase of almost 100 in a 24-hour period, and more than 9,000 confirmed infections in just over two weeks.

Until 3 April, around 60 million people will effectively be under quarantine by the strict measures which had already been introduced in northern and some central areas over the weekend.


It comes as an Italian doctor wrote in a lengthy Facebook post that his hospital was being "overwhelmed" by the "tsunami" of patients.

Dr Daniele Macchini, who works at Humanitas Gavazzeni hospital in Bergamo, northern Italy, said: "The war has literally exploded and the battles are uninterrupted day and night.

"The display boards with the names of the sick, of different colours depending on the operating unit they belong to, are now all red and instead of the surgical operation there is the diagnosis, which is always the same cursed: bilateral interstitial pneumonia.

"The results of the swabs now come one after the other: positive, positive, positive. Suddenly the emergency room is collapsing."

Image: There have been nearly 500 deaths in Italy so far. Pic: Piazza Pulita

People arriving in the UK from anywhere in Italy have been told by the Foreign Office to self-isolate for 14 days.

And Britons have also been warned against all but essential travel to the whole of the country.

BA and Ryanair confirmed on Tuesday they were suspending their full Italy flight schedules.

In the case of Ryanair, domestic services would cease from Thursday until 8 April with international services pausing from Saturday until 8 April. It said passengers affected were being offered flight transfers, full refunds or travel credits.

EasyJet is still running a small number of Italy services as things stand.

Another no-frills carrier, Norwegian, said it was responding to a collapse in demand for air travel by temporarily laying-off a "significant" number of staff as it prepared to slash 15% of its total schedule from next week.

Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte is urging the public to stay at home, saying: "The future depends on us and everyone must do their part."

Image: Italy's prime minister Giuseppe Conte is urging people to stay at home

He said people should not move around apart from for work and emergencies, and the closure of schools and universities across the country is being extended to 3 April.

He also said public transport will remain operational.

Leading politicians have accused Mr Conte of not going far enough, with former deputy PM Matteo Salvini calling on the government to "close everything immediately, without leaving room for doubts or interpretations".

Lombardy president Attilio Fontana called for "even more stringent rules" so "we can overcome this emergency".

A statement from the Foreign Office said: "We have amended our travel advice to recommend against all but essential travel to Italy. The safety of British nationals is always our number one priority.

"The advice is that anyone who arrives from Italy subsequent to Italian government decision should now self-isolate for 14 days."

Image: Police check documents at a 'red zone' checkpoint in San Fiorano, southeast of Milan

More than 300 of Italy's fatalities are in the Lombardy region - which includes the country's financial capital, Milan.

About 5% of confirmed cases in Italy have been fatal so far, making the fatality rate higher than in other parts of the world, where scientists have tentatively estimated it to be between 1-3%. The fatality rate in Lombardy stands at 6%.

It is not clear to what extent Italy has been testing people with minor symptoms or how long the virus had been circulating in the country before it was detected, which could contribute to the apparently higher fatality rate.

Lombardy is one of five regions which already had areas in lockdown in a so-called "red zone", with cinemas, theatres and museums closed and restaurant hours restricted.

The measures had affected 10 million residents in the whole of Lombardy and another six million in the provinces of Modena, Parma, Piacenza, Reggio Emilia, Rimini, Pesaro and Urbino, Alessandria, Asti, Novara, Verbano-Cusio-Ossola, Vercelli, Padua, Treviso and the tourist hotspot of Venice.

Mr Conte will sign a new decree and the nationwide limitations will be introduced in the morning.

He told reporters that restrictions introduced two days ago were no longer sufficient and they would have to be extended to the whole country.

The PM said: "There won't be just a red zone," adding: "There will be Italy" as a protected area.

Mr Conte also criticised young people in much of Italy who have been gathering at night to socialise during the public health emergency that started on 21 February.

"This nightlife... we can't allow this any more," he said.

Image: Inmates on the roof of the San Vittore Prison, Milan

Meanwhile, six inmates have died and several others have climbed on to the roof of a jail following protests across various prisons in Italy over limits on direct contact between inmates and their families.

In the south, Puglia, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania and Molise have seen just dozens of COVID-19 cases between them and a handful of deaths.

In a bid to deter a mass influx, southern regions issued decrees on Sunday telling people who do arrive from northern red zones that they had to go into quarantine for two weeks.

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Earlier on Monday, Italy shut all of its ski resorts and Mr Conte said he would use "massive shock therapy" to battle the outbreak.

More than 3,900 people have died across the world, the vast majority in mainland China, the epicentre of the outbreak.

"Now that the virus has a foothold in so many countries, the threat of a pandemic has become very real," said World Health Organisation Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

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

In other coronavirus developments:

China's President Xi Jinping has visited Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak, as the country marked the third straight day of no new locally transmitted coronavirus cases outside of Hubei

The president of the European Parliament Davide Sassoli is in self-isolation at his Brussels home as a precaution after travelling to Italy.

Three new deaths have been recorded at the Life Care Center nursing home in Seattle, Washington state, which has been linked to 19 deaths in total

nursing home in Seattle, Washington state, which has been linked to 19 deaths in total Holidaymakers have been allowed to leave a Tenerife hotel after their period of quarantine ended

Lebanon recorded its first virus-related death, according to broadcasters in the country

Poland cancelled all large-scale events over the outbreak

Czech Republic closed schools and banned events hosting more than 100 people

Germany has announced its first two deaths - the country has more than 1,100 infections

Madrid's regional president says all schools and universities in the region will close for two weeks

In Ireland, all parades planned for St Patrick's Day on 17 March have been cancelled

The coronavirus-hit Grand Princess cruise ship, which has more than 140 Britons on board, has arrived in port in Oakland, California

Iran has temporarily released about 70,000 prisoners as coronavirus cases have surged

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