Italy in national coronavirus lockdown

As Italy is in a national coronavirus lockdown, the number of confirmed COVID-19 coronavirus cases in Greece currently stands at 84.

Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte called for every Italian to make a personal sacrifice to restrict the spread of coronavirus.  "This is why I decided to adopt even more strong and severe measures to contain the advance, and protect the health of all citizens," he stated.

The country's 60 million people who can prove real need- whether for work, medical reasons or emergencies, will be allowed to travel outside the areas where they live until the 3rd of April, 2020.

Conte's announcement came as Italy announced 97 more deaths from the virus and the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) warned the threat of a global coronavirus pandemic was "very real."

On Monday, Greece’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) also imposed a two-week suspension on all flights to and from northern Italy.

The announcement stated that the suspension was “giving priority to the safety of passengers and of flights, in alignment with the directions of the Health Ministry and EODY [The Hellenic National Public Health Organization].”

The suspension on flights from all Greek airports and airlines affects the regions of Emilia Romagna, Piedmont, Lombardy and Veneto.

The number of coronavirus cases in Greece tripled in recent days when travellers who had returned from a pilgrimage to Israel and Egypt were detected with the deadly virus. Among them, a 65-year-old man is battling pneumonia in a hospital isolation unit in the western port city of Patras.