Northen Italy quarantines 16 million people over coronavirus

Italy has placed up to 16 million people under quarantine as it battles to contain the spread of coronavirus.

Anyone living in Lombardy and 14 other central and northern provinces will need special permission to travel. Milan and Venice are both affected.

Schools, gyms, pools, and ski resorts will be closed and all events in “public and private spaces” suspended, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said.

Shortly after midnight, the prime minister signed a decree affecting about 16 million people in the country’s prosperous north. The extraordinary measures will be in place until April 3.

“”For Lombardy and for the other northern provinces that I have listed 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.”