Two people have died in northern Italy after becoming infected with coronavirus as an outbreak in the Lombardy and Veneto regions worsened.
A 78-year-old man died Friday night at a hospital in Padua after testing positive for coronavirus, Italy’s Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Friday evening. On Saturday morning, the Italian news agency ANSA reported a second death, of a woman in Lombardy.
Italian health authorities have imposed quarantine and other emergency measures after announcing more than a dozen confirmed infections on Friday. ANSA reported a total of 29 confirmed cases, with most in Lombardy and two cases in the Veneto region.
The man who died in Padua was the second coronavirus casualty in Europe. An elderly Chinese tourist died last week in France.
The victim, Adriano Trevisan, the retired owner of a construction company, had been hospitalized along with a 67-year-old acquaintance, who was also infected, Corriere della Sera reported.
Amid the reports of new cases, Italian health authorities ordered a 14-day quarantine for anyone who had traveled to Italy from China. Some schools were closed Friday, and the Italian health ministry website appeared to have crashed on Saturday morning.
Lombardy regional authorities also essentially put 10 municipalities on total lockdown, suspending all public events. They also barred public transport vehicles from stopping in those towns. “Workers employed in essential services,” according to the order, would be admitted only “after daily health check.”