Coronavirus live updates: number of confirmed cases in UK jumps to 206
Cases in Italy rise by more than 1,000 in 24 hours
More than 1,200 extra cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in Italy since Friday, the Civil Protection Agency said.
The total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Italy has risen to 5,883 from 4,636 on Friday, according to official figures. That’s a rise of 1,247, showing that contagion shows no sign of slowing down.
The death toll from an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy slowed down on Saturday but rose to 233 from 197 on Friday.
The head of the agency, Angelo Borrelli, said in a news conference said of those originally infected, 589 had fully recovered while 567 were being treated in intensive care.
The contagion came to light over two weeks ago and is focused on a handful of hotspots in the north of Italy, but cases have now been confirmed in each of the country’s 20 regions, with deaths recorded in eight of them.
A second member of France’s National Assembly has been taken to hospital after contracting coronavirus and five other lawmakers are being tested for the illness, the lower house’s presidency said in a statement on Saturday.
The Assembly did not name the two legislators who have caught the disease, but local media in the eastern region of Alsace have reported that the first of the two lawmakers is Jean-Luc Reitzer, who represents one of the departments most affected by the outbreak and is currently in intensive care, Reuters reports.
The second lawmaker is a woman, according to the statement by the parliament. The Assembly said on Friday that a snack bar worker had also contracted the virus.
Sessions in the lower house will be interrupted for two weeks from 9 March and 22 March due to municipal elections that are taking place across France, reducing activity and the number of people present in the building, the assembly said.
France’s health ministry said earlier that two more people had died from the coronavirus, bringing the total death toll to 11 people.
France now has 716 confirmed cases of coronavirus, an increase of 103 compared with a day earlier.
Italy’s premier football league, Serie A, could be forced to suspend mid-season if a player tests positive for coronavirus, the Italian football federation (FIGC) said on Saturday.
“We must be realistic,’’ Gabriele Gravina, president of the FIGC, said in an interview with Italian broadcaster Rai, “We need to take measures to protect athletes, and we cannot exclude the possibility to suspend the competition if a player tested positive.’’
On Wednesday, Italy ordered that all sporting events should be played behind closed doors until 3 April due to the outbreak.
The ”derby of Italy” between Inter Milan and Juventus football clubs is set to be played on Sunday, while the Rome marathon, due to take place on 29 March, has been cancelled due to the outbreak.
“This is the message that we would never have wished to write but sadly, as a consequence of the ongoing health emergency and according to what is laid down in the cabinet decree of March 4, 2020, the Marathon on March 29 has been cancelled,” said organisers.
Italy is the European country most affected by the coronavirus with 3,916 infected and 197 dead.
