Venice Carnival closes early as Italy coronavirus cases soar

Sunday Mass has been cancelled as 50,000 people in northern Italy are put under quarantine

Italy took drastic containment steps as worldwide fears over the coronavirus epidemic spiralled. AFP

The Venice Carnival festival will close Sunday, several days ahead of schedule, because of the coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy, the head of the region said on Sky TG24 television Sunday.

More than 100 coronavirus cases have been confirmed in Italy as parts of the country’s north were locked down on Sunday as authorities struggle to deal with a rise in infections.

Around 50,000 people in 11 towns have been placed effectively in quarantine with nearby sporting fixtures postponed and Sunday church services cancelled.

Businesses, restaurants and schools have also been closed in Veneto and Lombardy.

Two Italian citizens have already died from the virus.

The government said that local authorities can call in the military to enforce the quarantine if needed.

Wahida Ghalayini, head of the nursing department, speaks to journalists at the quarantine department at Rafik Hariri University Hospital in Beirut, Lebanon. Lebanese Health Minister Hamad Hassan said all people traveling from Iran to Lebanon will be tested for the new virus that started in China before boarding flights to the Arab country after a woman tested positive earlier this week upon her return from Iran. AP

Kuwaitis coming back from Iran leave the air plane at Sheikh Saad Airport in Kuwait City before being taken to a hospital to be tested for coronavirus. AFP

Kuwaitis coming back from Iran wait at Sheikh Saad Airport in Kuwait City before being taken to a hospital to be tested for coronavirus. AFP

Kuwaiti policemen wearing protective masks wait at Sheikh Saad Airport in Kuwait City, before transferring Kuwaitis arriving from Iran to a hospital to be tested for coronavirus. AFP

Kuwaitis coming back from Iran wait at Sheikh Saad Airport in Kuwait City, before being taken to a hospital to be tested for coronavirus. AFP

Kuwaiti health minister Sheikh Basel al-Sabah (R) speaks to the press at Sheikh Saad Airport in Kuwait City, as Kuwaitis returning from Iran wait before being taken to a hospital to be tested for coronavirus. AFP

Lebanese nurses wearing protective masks work at a ward where the first case of coronavirus in the country is being treated, at the Rafik Hariri University Hospital in the southern outskirts of the capital Beirut. AFP

Medical staff check passengers arriving from Iran in the airport in Najaf, Iraq. AP

Medical workers in protective suits at a coronavirus detection lab in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. AP

Nurses work at an ICU ward specialised for patients infected by coronavirus in Wuhan in central China's Hubei Province. AP

Market workers wearing protective gear spray disinfectant at a market in the southeastern city of Daegu as a preventive measure after the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. AFP

A woman is taken into an ambulance amid a coronavirus outbreak in northern Italy, in Casalpusterlengo. REUTERS

British Diamond Princess evacuees arrive in coaches to Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, United Kingdom. Getty Images

British Diamond Princess evacuees arrive at Arrowe Park Hospital in Wirral, United Kingdom. Getty Images

Passengers of an aircraft are being taken to Arrowe Park Hospital, where passengers that have been repatriated to the UK from a cruise ship hit by the COVID-19 coronavirus in Yokohama, Japan, will be quarantined for 14 days to protect against the spread of the illness should any of them be infected, in Upton, England. AP

According to the President of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana, 89 of the cases are in his province centred around the small town of Codogno, about 70 kilometres southeast of Milan.

"The contagiousness of this virus is very strong and pretty virulent," said Giulio Gallera, a senior figure in Lombardy’s healh department said.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has urged Italians "not to give in to feelings of panic”.

Mr Conte, however, said Italy won’t seek a suspension of the Schengen agreement, which gets rid of immigration controls between 26 European countries.

Coronavirus did not have much of an effect on Milan’s world-renowned fashion week Carlo Capasa, president of the Italian National Fashion Chamber.

“It doesn’t seem to me in this moment for what regards our sector, our fashion week, that there are signs of danger. We are tranquil and prudent,” he told the Associated Press.

The onset in Italy has led to increased vigilance in neighbouring France with Heath Minister Olivier Veran saying “it is very likely” cases will increase.

He told Le Parisien Dimanche that more masks are being distributed and laboratories are being supplied with extra equipment so they can carry out more tests.