Casalpusterlengo (Italy) (AFP)

A health cordon was in place around eleven cities in northern Italy, the economic heart of the country, on Monday to stem the spread of the coronavirus, which has already killed five people there.

The sudden outbreak since Friday of new coronavirus cases, going from 6 to 219 in four days, makes Italy the most affected country in Europe and the third in the world after South Korea and China.

The announcement Monday of the death of an 88-year-old man near Milan, in Lombardy (north-west), increased the death toll to five deaths, all occurred in the north of the country: four in Lombardy and one in Veneto (northeast). Each time they were elderly people and often already suffering from other pathologies.

The first death of an Italian - and the first of a European - was announced Friday in a village near Padua in Veneto.

The number 1 patient for Lombardy is a 38-year-old man, Mattia, part of the Anglo-Dutch multinational Unilever in Casalpusterlengo. The origin of its contamination however remains a mystery, by the own admission of the Ministry of Health.

Italy has multiplied since the precautionary measures, including the semi-confinement of some 52,000 inhabitants of a dozen cities in the North: public places are closed, except a few stores of first necessity and pharmacies on duty.

The head of the Italian Civil Protection Angelo Borrelli sought Monday to reassure the population: "We intervened through strong and important measures, and therefore I think that our country is able to guarantee security", he said. assured at a press conference.

As a precaution, all school excursions are suspended inside and outside the peninsula. This health crisis brought down the Milan stock exchange, the country's economic capital (-4.7%, around 1:00 p.m. GMT).

In addition, around sixty passengers from Lombardy and Veneto traveling on an aircraft of the Italian company Alitalia were prohibited from landing on Mauritius on Monday.

In Lombardy, the most affected region with 167 cases, the Milan metro was half empty on Monday morning, with many passengers wearing protective masks.

Schools, universities, but also museums, cinemas and theaters including the prestigious Scala, as well as the Gothic cathedral, symbol of the city, are closed.

- Deserted cinemas -

Some Milanese supermarkets are already robbed and the mayor of the city Beppe Sala called on his fellow citizens to reason: "rather than running in the supermarkets to grab food, we should take care of the weakest, especially the elderly who are most at risk. "

The bars will have to lower their curtains from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m., effectively suspending the local aperitif tradition.

"We are sure that the measures we have taken will prevent the contagion from spreading," assured the President of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana.

In Liguria (north-west), the celebration of masses was interrupted. Only funerals and weddings remain scheduled, but in small groups.

The country's cinemas are also deserted: this weekend, revenues fell 44% compared to the previous weekend.

In addition to Lombardy, a neighbor of Switzerland, the greatest number of cases were detected in Veneto, close to Slovenia (27 cases including one death).

The Veneto decreed on Sunday the interruption of the festivities of the famous Venice carnival - which was due to end on Tuesday - as well as sporting events and the closing of schools and museums. But bars and restaurants remain open.

Three other regions are affected: Emilia-Romagna (north), Piedmont (north-west) bordering France, and Trentino-Alto Adige (north-east), bordering Austria.

Around the main homes, schools and universities are closed, as are all public places (bars, restaurants, libraries, town halls, sports halls).

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© 2020 AFP