MILAN (REUTERS, BLOOMBERG) – The number of coronavirus cases continued to jump in the north of Italy on Sunday (Feb 23), even after the government imposed a lockdown and banned travel to and from an area near Milan of about 50,000 people.

The governor of Italy’s northern Lombardy region, Mr Attilio Fontana, said certified cases of the illness in his area had risen to 89 from 54 a day earlier, bringing the total number in the country to more than 100.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte late Saturday announced the travel ban and other emergency measures in response to the surge in cases that have occurred since a man sought medical treatment at a hospital in Lombardy on Feb 18. He is believed to have infected dozens of patients and medical staff, who then carried the virus further afield.

The measures were introduced just hours after two people died from the virus in the north of the country, the first non-tourist deaths in Europe.

A spokesman for the governor of the northern region Veneto said on Sunday the number of cases there had risen to 19, seven more than on Saturday.

Lombardy and Veneto, Italy’s industrial heartland which jointly account for 30 per cent of gross domestic output, are the worst-hit areas in Italy.

Lombardy is home to Italy’s financial capital Milan, which has a population of 1.4 million.

All work activities, public events and schools will be cancelled or closed in the affected area around Lodi, a town in Lombardy located about 50km south-east of Italy’s financial hub.

Mr Conte suggested that residents may have to endure the restrictions for several weeks, though he didn’t specify a timeline.

The city’s mayor, Mr Giuseppe Sala, announced that all Milan schools will be closed from Monday.

Several towns in Veneto have also been imposed with the travel restrictions, while universities in both Lombardy and Veneto have been shuttered until early March.

Sporting events have also been cancelled in the regions, including three Serie A soccer matches.

Fashion designer Giorgio Armani has said his fashion show scheduled to take place in Milan on Sunday would go ahead in an empty theatre without any press or buyers present.

Italy’s number of confirmed cases is about five times that of Germany, the European country with the second-highest number of infections.

The rapid number of new cases in less than a week and Italy’s inability to stem the spread from a hospitalised patient is fuelling fears of broader contagion.

“When doctors are infected, that means the right practices were not put into place, apart from the fact that the virus is very contagious,” Professor Walter Ricciardi, a member of the executive council of the World Health Organisation, told newspaper La Stampa.

Prof Ricciardi also criticised the government for banning flights to and from China, saying that stopped authorities from tracing arrivals as travelers could use stopovers to reach Italy.

Italy has said it will not seek a suspension of the Schengen agreement, which has eliminated border controls between 26 European countries.

Even so, the virus surge illustrates the potential threat to borderless travel and commerce in Europe, which last came under pressure during the continent’s refugee crisis in 2015-2016.

French Heath Minister Olivier Veran told Le Parisien Dimanche newspaper that “it’s very likely” the country will now face new cases and laboratories are being supplied with additional test kits.

Italy asked other major economies to “work immediately on economic measures at an international level that are coordinated and sufficient to deal with the economic consequences of the virus in a timely and effective way in case the crisis worsens”, Finance Minister Roberto Gualtieri said on the sidelines of a Group of 20 meeting in Riyadh.

Italy’s government also plans to introduce measures to support the economy in virus-affected areas, Mr Conte told reporters in Rome.

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