Italy is the European country where the corona virus has hit hardest so far. Over 2,500 people have been infected and at least 79 people have died from covid-19. In Denmark, it is not advisable to travel from unnecessary trips to the most vulnerable parts of Italy. The Swedish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has previously advised against travel to parts of China and the whole of Iran - but such a decision on Italy is not yet relevant.

- When it comes to the corona virus, we listen to our public health expert authority. We are closely following developments in the country and are in close contact with the Public Health Authority, says Anna Lundblad at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' press service.

Infection spread throughout northern Italy

Today, the Public Health Authority added a number of regions in Italy to its list of where the virus spread, and now covers the entire northern half of Italy. But neither does the Public Health Agency think it is time to discourage travel to Italy.

- The advice that was given because of this disease - which is not very dangerous for individuals - has been both in China and Iran in connection with the disease having a very large impact on society. Healthcare has gone to its knees, a lot of traffic has been shut down and it has almost not been possible to travel there or from there. So it is an extra aspect to make it relevant to discourage people from going there - we don't think you have reached that level yet in Italy, says Anders Tegnell, state epidemiologist.

Over 1,000 samples taken: "I was pretty sure we caught the vast majority"

He also points out that the risk of individuals being infected during travel is still low.

- We now have about fifteen cases from Italy and there are about 40,000 people who have traveled from Italy in recent weeks, so the risk at the individual level is not huge. In addition, those who have come home have been very well managed so far. Basically, the WHO says that you should not carry on travel restrictions, because it becomes very destructive.

Can you be sure that you have caught up with every case?

- We can't be 100 percent sure of that. But since we have taken so many samples, well over 1000 of which most of the last days, we still feel pretty confident that we caught the vast majority. Any single case can slip through whatever network we have, and even if we take a travel advice to Italy, people will not stop going there.