Havva Kara Aydın
24 February 2020•Update: 24 February 2020
ROME
A third person infected with the coronavirus died Sunday in Italy, according to health officials.
Angelo Borrelli, head of the country’s Civil Protection Department, said the latest victim was an elderly woman with cancer who died at a hospital in Cremona, a city in Italy’s northern Lombardy region.
Borrelli said there were now 152 confirmed coronavirus cases in Italy and 25 of the patients had been placed in intensive care.
Most of the cases -- 110 -- were reported in Lombardy, Borelli told reporters at a press conference.
Earlier in the day, the Italian government announced that neither entry nor exit to the Lombardy and Veneto regions would be authorized without special permission.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte gathered his Cabinet shortly after the increase in coronavirus cases and delivered remarks about the current situation and the measures being taken.
Conte said his administration was working hard to prevent a large-scale outbreak and essential measures were being taken in Lombardy and Veneto.
He said entrance and exit from the regions would be monitored, adding people would not be permitted in or out of the areas with rare exceptions and violators could be fined.
Education Minister Lucia Azzolina said academic activities would be suspended from Feb. 24-29 in the regions with the highest coronavirus risk.
In China, the epicenter of the virus, the death toll from the outbreak reached 2,444 on Sunday with over 76,000 confirmed cases.
More than 18,260 people have been discharged from hospitals after receiving treatment.
The coronavirus has spread to more than 25 other countries including the U.S., the U.K., Singapore, France, Russia, Spain and India.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak an international health emergency.
*Writing by Havva Kara Aydin
