Italy Coronavirus Cases Soar As Authorities Scramble To Find Patient Zero

(CNN) — Italian authorities have announced sweeping closures in the country’s north as they scramble to contain Europe’s biggest outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

Italy’s confirmed cases surged from three on Friday morning to more than 130 by Sunday morning.

The majority of coronavirus infections are concentrated in mainland China (with more than 78,800 cases), followed by Japan (738) and South Korea (602). Italy’s spike now marks the biggest outbreak outside of Asia.

Three people have died and at least 152 others have been infected with the virus in Italy, Angelo Borrelli, head of the country’s Civil Protection agency, said at a Sunday news conference.

There are 110 cases in the northern Italian region of Lombardy, Borelli said, whose capital is the city of Milan.

He said at an earlier press conference that 26 patients were in intensive care and one patient had recovered.

Officials have yet to track down the first carrier of the virus in the country. “We still cannot identify patient zero, so it’s difficult to forecast possible new cases,” Borrelli said.

Strict emergency measures were put in place over the weekend, including a ban on public events in 10 municipalities, after a spike in confirmed cases in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto.

Italy’s Health Minister Roberto Speranza announced severe restrictions in the affected regions, which included the closure of public buildings, limited transport, and the surveillance and quarantine of individuals who may have been exposed to the virus.

“We are asking basically that everyone who has come from areas stricken by the epidemic to remain under a mandatory house stay,” Speranza said at a Saturday press conference.

Sports and fashion affected

Italy’s top soccer league, Serie A, canceled at least three games scheduled to be played in Lombardy and Veneto regions.

Atalanta versus Sassuolo, Hellas Verona versus Cagliari, and Inter Milan versus Sampdoria were suspended, according to Serie A’s website on Sunday.

The country’s fashion capital, Milan, announced it would close its schools starting Monday for a week. School trips inside and outside Italy were also being canceled from Sunday, according to a statement by Italy’s Ministry of Education.

The spike in numbers has also affected the end of Milan Fashion Week.

Fashion houses Giorgio Armani and Laura Biagiotti confirmed to CNN that they will be holding Sunday’s fashion shows with no spectators and behind closed doors.

Venice Carnival is being suspended in the face of the outbreak, Luca Zaia, the governor of the Veneto region, announced Sunday.

Two of the region’s 25 cases occurred in Venice, the popular tourist destination whose carnival celebrations attract visitors from across the world.

Zaia also announced a ban on public and private meetings, and closures of schools, universities and museums in the region.

“We ask for the cooperation of all citizens. It’s not an easy moment. But, with the data we have today, we can still hope to limit the contagion,” Zaia said.

As worries grow in Italy’s north, authorities in the country’s south put a migrant rescue ship in quarantine in Sicily, the interior ministry said Sunday.

The Ocean Viking, which has 274 migrants aboard who were rescued at sea, is quarantined in Pozzallo, Sicily, along with the ship’s crew.

‘Window of opportunity is narrowing’

The situation has raised fears about the spike in cases outside mainland China among people with no connection to China or the city of Wuhan — ground zero for the outbreak.

World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus reiterated on Saturday that there was still a chance to contain the virus beyond China, “but the window of opportunity is narrowing.”

“Although the total number of cases outside China remains relatively small, we are concerned about the number of cases with no clear epidemiological link, such as travel history to China or contact with a confirmed case,” he said.

The increase in cases in Iran, South Korea and Italy “is also a matter of concern and how the virus is now spreading to other parts of the world,” Tedros added.