Italy to close all schools as virus deaths rise
Italy has confirmed that it will shut all schools from Thursday for 10 days since it battles to contain the coronavirus outbreak.
And all professional sport, including Serie A football matches, will be played nowadays for a month.
A complete of 107 people have now been killed by the coronavirus in Italy, which has the most serious outbreak in Europe.
PM Giuseppe Conte said medical service risked being overwhelmed.
Most of the a lot more than 3,000 cases are in the north but others have already been confirmed in 19 of Italy's 20 regions.
Globally about 3,200 persons have died and more than 90,000 have been infected, the vast majority in China, where in fact the virus emerged late this past year.
The World Health Organization has up to now stopped short of declaring a pandemic - an epidemic spreading around the world through local transmission - but on Wednesday Germany's health minister said the coronavirus now met the definition.
"The problem is changing rapidly... What's clear is that we have not yet reached the peak of the outbreak," Jens Spahn said.
Confirmed cases have already been reported in 81 countries, with Italy, Iran and South Korea emerging as hotspots outside China.
