An elderly cancer patient became the third person known to be infected with the coronavirus to die in Italy, health officials said on Sunday, as the number of people contracting the virus continued to mount.

The death of the woman in a hospital in the small city of Crema in Lombardy, the centre of Italy's coronavirus scare, followed that of a 77-year-old woman on Saturday and a 78-year-old man on Friday, the first European victim of coronavirus.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte urged people "not to give in to panic and follow the advice of health authorities".

"We should not be afraid because of the rising numbers," he told public radio station Rai Uno, adding in another interview that cases were being discovered "because we are carrying out thousands of checks".

The head of Italy's civil protection department, Angelo Borrelli, told a news conference that 152 people had now tested positive for the virus in the country, including the three deceased.

The cancer patient had been hospitalised for a few days, said Lombardy's health chief, Giulio Gallera.

"She'd been tested and they already knew she had the coronavirus," Gallera said, adding that it was too early to know whether the virus was the actual cause of death.

The deaths, and steadily rising number of cases of infected people, have prompted a series of security measures to try to check the spread of the contagion.

Eleven towns -- 10 in Lombardy and 1 in neighbouring Veneto -- are under lockdown, with some 50,000 residents prohibited from leaving. Regional authorities have ordered gathering spots, such as bars, restaurants and discos to close.

Schools throughout the affected areas are to remain closed.

An Austrian train from Venice bound for Munich was stopped on Sunday on the Italian side of the Brenner Pass border crossing with Austria because of two possible cases, the Austrian interior ministry said.

It later announced that the passengers had tested negative and train services resumed.

- Cultural fallout -

The spread of the virus has disrupted high profile events including Milan Fashion Week and the Venice Carnival while Serie A football matches were postponed. Operas have also had to be cancelled at Milan's famed La Scala.

Most of the cases in Italy are in Lombardy, a prosperous region in the country's north, and can be traced back to a 38-year-old man whom authorities have called "patient one".

The man, who is intensive care, dined last month with another man who had visited China in January. He exhibited flu-like symptoms at the time of the dinner, but has since tested negative for the virus, media reports said.

Health officials are still puzzled over certain cases with no obvious links with infected persons.

"The rapid increase in reported cases in Italy over the past two days is of concern," World Health Organization (WHO) spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic said on Sunday.

"What is also worrying is that not all reported cases seem to have clear epidemiological links, such as travel history to China or contact with a confirmed case," he added.

Experts from WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control plan to arrive in Italy on Tuesday, he said.

Conte's government moved Saturday to set up checkpoints in the region affected to ensure that nobody leaves the contaminated zone without special permission.

Sunday saw police checking all vehicles travelling in and out of the area along Codogno's main highway.

One police officer told AFP that "we're going to quickly enforce a total blockade" and that those who had made it into the area in recent days would be unable to leave.

Conte has said that residents could face weeks of lockdown, enough time for any potential infection to incubate.

Police at checkpoints, events scrapped as virus fears hit Italy
Codogno, Italy (AFP) Feb 23, 2020 - Police patrolled perimeters of virus-stricken town in northern Italy Sunday as tens of thousands of people were placed under lockdown and public events cancelled to stem Europe's worst outbreak of the new coronavirus.

An elderly cancer patient became the third person who has tested positive for the virus to die since Friday in the country, with 149 confirmed cases nationwide.

The mounting number of infections has sparked fears of further contagion and prompted the government to effectively quarantine 11 villages.

"Virus -- Northern Italy under Siege," read Sunday's headline in the Il Fatto Quotidiano daily, as television stations delivered a steady stream of images of masked locals and hospital workers in protective suits. "Virus Paralysis," read La Repubblica.

Health officials in the Lombardy region, the centre of Italy's coronavirus outbreak, said an elderly woman being treated in hospital for cancer who had tested positive for the virus had died.

If coronavirus is determined to be the cause of death, the woman will be the third person in Italy to have died from COVID-19, the official name of the disease that was detected in China late last year and has since spread across the world.

More than 50,000 people in 11 Italian towns have been ordered not to leave their areas, most of them around the town of Codogno, about 70 kilometres (43 miles) southeast of Milan.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Saturday that the lockdown could last weeks, enough time for potential infections to incubate.

A policewoman in charge of a checkpoint outside Codogno said the area under quarantine would be limited to "a fairly small perimeter to begin with, the towns affected by the epidemic, but it might be widened later."

In Casalpusterlengo, police checkpoints stopped vehicles in both directions on the road that leads to Codogno, 10 minutes away.

"We're going to quickly enforce a total blockade," said one police officer.

"We're letting people know that if they come in, they won't be able to leave. I have to admit they're taking it pretty well, you can see they were expecting it, that they were prepared in some way."

Earlier in the day, queues formed at supermarkets as anxious people, many wearing surgical masks, stocked up on provisions, fearing a long period of isolation.

"Don't push! We want to serve everyone but not all at once," a store manager told about 50 people waiting with shopping trolleys outside.

"We might not have the same quantities of products as usual, but we have enough for everyone."

In Venice, the exuberant annual carnival that attracts tourists from all over the world was cancelled from Sunday night, according to the region's president Luca Zaia. It had been scheduled to continue through Tuesday.

Milan fashion shows were also affected, and schools throughout the Lombardy region are to be closed for a week.

- 'Really scared' -

In Casalpusterlengo, the Lidl grocery store allowed shoppers to enter in groups of 40.

"It's inhuman, fighting for four sandwiches is simply disgusting," complained a man named Sante, who sat in his car outside and said that if he could, "I would go to Rome and kick them in the butt."

A nurse named Emanuela said: "I'm really scared, we're going through a really tough situation."

The policewoman told AFP that teams had been sent in from Bologna, Turin and Genoa to help local law enforcement.

The government said those who violated the quarantine could face fines and even three months in jail.

It has also said the army was prepared to step in if needed to enforce the perimeter.

On Sunday, the head of the civil protection department, Angelo Borrelli, told a news conference that thousands of beds were ready in military barracks or hotels to house quarantined or sick individuals, if needed.

To date, the virus has killed more than 2,400 people worldwide, with roughly 80,000 infected, for the most part in China.

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