Italy battles to contain Europe's first major outbreak of coronavirus

ROME - Government officials scrambled on Sunday to contain the first major outbreak of the coronavirus in Europe, locking down at least 10 towns near Milan, closing schools and cancelling the iconic Venice carnival, as nearly 150 cases were announced in recent days.

The country's authoritarian government has taken extraordinary quarantine measures and imposed stiff restrictions on travel, but has still struggled to contain the virus. The same challenge now looms for Italy, Europe's fourth-largest economy, where the government, a wobbly, and often bickering, coalition between the Democratic Party and the 5-Star Movement, has been in disarray for months.

"We invite people to stay at home, to try and contain this phenomenon that we still don't know, except that it isn't aggressive but moves quickly," Mr Giulio Gallera, the official responsible for health for the Lombardy region, said during a televised news conference on Sunday. A military base in Rome has been housing evacuees from Wuhan, China, where the virus began, and the Italian passengers of the Diamond Princess, the cruise ship that has been under quarantine in Yokohama, Japan.

At least five members of the hospital medical staff in Codogno and several patients have been infected. Other persons who tested positive include the man's pregnant wife, a close friend and others who spent time with them.Similar lockdown procedures will be applied if new clusters emerge anywhere in Italy, officials said.

The presidents of other northern Italian regions suspended all educational activities - from pre-school through universities - for varying periods of time. In Milan, Mayor Giuseppe Sala announced that schools would be closed for a week.

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