Italy announced a sweeping quarantine Sunday for its northern regions, igniting travel chaos as it restricted the movements of 16 million people — more than one quarter of its population — in a bid to halt the relentless march of the new coronavirus across Europe. Confusion reigned from Milan to Venice as residents and tourists tried to figure out exactly when and how the new rules were coming into effect. Travelers rushed to train stations and crammed aboard standing-room only trains, tucking their faces into scarves and sharing sanitizing gel. After Italy saw its biggest one-day jump in infections, Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte signed a quarantine decree overnight for the country’s prosperous north. Areas under lockdown include Milan, Italy’s financial hub and the main city in Lombardy, and Venice, the main city in the neighboring Veneto region. The extraordinary measures will be in place until April 3. “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.” The fate of foreign visitors stuck in Italy’s new quarantine zones was not immediately clear. While the Vatican wasn’t directly affected by the lockdown, the pope, who has been ill, held his Sunday blessing by video instead of in person, describing the strangeness of feeling like he was “in a cage.” Italy’s move echoed China’s lockdown of some 60 million people in central Hubei province in late January, which is now in its sixth week. The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on Sunday tweeted his support for “the government and people of Italy,” saying they were “taking bold, courageous steps aimed at slowing the speed of the coronavirus.” China has suffered about three-fourths of the world’s 106,000 coronavirus infections and most of its nearly 3,600 deaths. New infections in China have leveled off dramatically, however, and most of those infected, in China and globally, have already recovered. But infections mounted higher Sunday in other epicenters — South Korea, Iran and especially Italy. And with a nose-dive in tourist traffic and major disruptions to supply chains worldwide, stocks got off to another rocky start Sunday as Mideast indexes opened down 6% to 8%. Around the globe, more events and festivals were called off, including the women’s hockey championships in Canada. Bahrain said its Formula One race this month will take place without spectators over virus fears while Japan’s time-honored grand sumo tournament opened Sunday in Osaka with no fans and wrestlers in face masks. Chaos erupted in the hours before Conte signed the decree, as word leaked 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 reports on their phones and rushed back 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 p.m, sitting 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 … so I decided to go earlier,” said student […]
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