Italy announced a sweeping quarantine early Sunday for its northern regions, igniting travel chaos as it restricted the movements of a quarter of its people in a bid to halt the new coronavirus' relentless march across Europe.
Shortly after midnight, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte signed a decree affecting 16 million people in the country's prosperous north, including the Lombardy region and at least 14 provinces in neighbouring regions. The extraordinary measures will be in place until April 3.
"For Lombardy and for the other northern provinces that I have listed, there will be a ban for everybody to move in and out of these territories and also within the same territory," Conte said.
"Exceptions will be allowed only for proven professional needs, exceptional cases and health issues."
Around the world, other countries have been increasingly imitating China where the virus first emerged late last year by imposing travel controls and shutting down public events. China has suffered about three-fourths of the world's 106,000 coronavirus infections and most of its nearly 3,600 deaths.
There was chaos and confusion in the hours before Conte signed the decree, as word leaked to the news media about the planned quarantine. Students at the University of Padua in northern Italy who had been out at bars on a Saturday night saw the rumors on their cellphones and rushed back to their apartments to grab their belongings and head to the train station.
Hundreds of passengers, some wearing face masks and rubber gloves, crammed onto the last local train leaving Padua at 11:30 pm (local time). Anxious students wrapped scarves around their heads, shared sanitizing gel, and sat on their suitcases in the aisles. No conductor came by to check tickets.
"I read two hours ago that they may be putting out an urgent decree putting Padua in the red zone. Because I would like to return down south to my relatives, I decided to go earlier," said one student, Roberto Pagliara, who moved up a planned Tuesday departure for his hometown of Puglia in southern Italy.
Italy on Saturday reported its biggest daily increase in coronavirus cases since its outbreak began on February 21. The number of infected people rose 1,247 in the previous 24 hours, taking the total to 5,883. Italy's death toll rose to 233.
Regional politicians were taken aback by the lockdown. Stefano Bonaccini, president of the Emilia Romagna region, said parts of the decree were confusing. The mayor of Asti, in the Piedmont region, posted an irate video on his Facebook page slamming Rome for not keeping regional leaders in the loop.
"Nobody told me," Maurizio Rasero screamed, adding that he had hundreds of messages on his cell phone from alarmed citizens.
"It's incredible that information that is so delicate and important would come out in the newspaper first." The fate of foreign visitors stuck in red zones in northern Italy was not immediately clear.
The move echoed China's lockdown of some 60 million people in central Hubei province in late January, which is now in its sixth week. China's harsh travel restrictions came too late to prevent infected people from seeding outbreaks elsewhere, but the World Health Organization has credited the lockdown with slowing the spread of the virus and "buying the world time to handle the outbreak.
With a nose-dive in tourist traffic and disruptions to supply chains, stocks got off to another rocky start Sunday as Mideast indexes opened down 6 per cent to 8 cent.
Around the world, more events and festivals were called off, including the women's world hockey championships in Canada. Bahrain said its Formula One race this month will take place without spectators over virus fears. Japan's time-honored grand sumo tournament opened Sunday in Osaka to no fans and wrestlers arrived wearing face masks.
The virus outbreak has left the cruise ship industry in disarray.
The Grand Princess cruise ship, where 21 people have tested positive for the virus, was headed to the port of Oakland, California, after idling off San Francisco for days. There is evidence the ship was the breeding ground for a deadly cluster of almost 20 cases during an earlier voyage.
"Those that will need to be quarantined will be quarantined," US Vice President Mike Pence said. "Those who will require medical help will receive it.
The ship, which is carrying more than 3,500 people from 54 countries, is expected to reach Oakland on Monday.
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