As of March 10, 2020, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced a nationwide lockdown for the nation of 60 million, because of the increasing severity of the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. First identified in Wuhan, China in December of 2019, the virus has quickly spread around the world, with Italy being one of the hardest hit. With a death toll rising above 450 and over 9,000 confirmed cases, Prime Minister Conte declared that the entire country would become a quarantined “red zone,” a restriction that was previously applied only to certain regions such as Lombardy.
While travelers would still be able to enter Italy, there are now mandated travel restrictions within the country. Furthermore, schools will be completely closed until April, and outdoor events and gatherings have been banned. After jail visits were also barred, prison riots also broke out, resulting in the death of six inmates. Although government-led measures to fight the coronavirus around the world are becoming increasingly strict, it is still unclear when the global outbreak will slow down.
