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IRISH CITIZENS ARE being advised to avoid travelling to areas in Italy that are affected by the Covid-19 coronavirus.
The Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) on its website has advised Irish citizens to “not travel to affected areas” in Italy due to a recent increase in coronavirus cases.
The department has not provided a definitive list of the areas affected by Covid-19, saying to consult transport and accommodation providers, the regional government website of the region in question.
Those who are already in Italy are advised by the DFA to call 1500 for more details.
The security status of the country remains at the lowest level with normal precautions in place.
Tourists visiting Italy are also reminded that bathing in fountains is prohibited at all times.
A fifth person has died from the coronavirus in Italy, it was reported this afternoon. The fourth person to die from the virus in Italy, a man in his 80s, was reported dead in the northern Lombardy region earlier today.
CEO of the Irish Travel Agents Association (ITAA) Pat Dawson said people planning to travel to affected regions in Italy should contact their travel agents or airlines to discuss their options.
“It’s really going to be up to providers and airlines for how they deal with these precautions,” Dawson said.
“People should talk to the travel agent they booked the trip with or their airlines to ask if dates can be changed or what the next steps should be if people are nervous abot travelling to certain areas,” he said.
“We would urge people to be cautious,” said Dawson, adding that it was “certainly not a pleasant situation”.
Empty shelves
Villages in Lombardy have been put under lockdown and security measures brought in to stem the spread of the disease.
Supermarket shelves near Milan and other areas across Italy have been cleared as fears spread due to the surge in coronavirus cases.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has said that residents could face weeks in effective quarantine in an effort to sit out the virus.
Lombardy’s president Attilo Fontana said 165 people had now tested positive in the region, the worst-hit zone in Italy.
Italy has the most confirmed cases of any country in Europe.
The DFA said the Italian government has put laws in place for certain areas to take actions including the restriction of movement, restriction of certain transport services and closures of schools and museums.
International travellers are advised to reduce certain risks by avoiding close contact with people suffering from acute respiratory infections, frequently washing hands and avoiding close contact with live or dead farm/wild animals.
11 towns – 10 in Lombardy and one in neighbouring Veneto – are under lockdown, with some 50,000 residents prohibited from leaving.
Regional authorities have ordered gathering spots, such as bars, restaurants, cinemas and discos to close.
The spread of the virus has disrupted high-profile events including Milan Fashion Week, the Venice Carnival and football matches.
Masses in churches across the affected regions have been cancelled and funerals limited to immediate relatives only.
Passengers who arrived by bus from Milan to Lyon in France earlier today were kept on board after the driver was hospitalised with symptoms similar to those of the coronavirus.
Police set up a security cordon around the bus in the Lyon station and ordered the passengers to remain on board, a spokesperson for the Lyon area’s public security department said.
With reporting by AFP.
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Ah. That’ll be where I am. Oh well. Serious run on pasta and coffee in the shops yesterday. Not sure that the get the importance of bread here.
Why is the picture that of Chinese tourists in Milan.
@Arya: How do you know they’re Chinese?
@richiecranium: they’re Chinese.
@Arya: Why does it matter?
@richiecranium: meh.. Clothing, masks, many give aways
@Arya: What are you on about? DId they change the picture?
@Arya: nevermind. The thumbnail picture.
@Caoimhín O Neill: They May be Chinese but they are still a great bunch of lads!
@K Lawlor: it was.
@richiecranium: because of their features. You can bury your head in the sand and not call out the obvious. Describing people as Chinese, Japanese, African, Caucasian, Middle Eastern or any other is ok. There is nothing wrong with it. We describe things as part of communication.
@Ed: because the virus is becoming associated with anyone that looks Asian. Did you read the story of how a teen from a 3rd generation Italian family of Chinese descent was attacked as he walked home? We should not perpetuate or feed into such things. It matters that I called it out and now the picture has been changed.
Why do they have to state the obvious? You’d want to be some clown to travel to any place that has cases of it!!
@Olivia Smith: yes, but very important to know you can’t bathe in fountains! lol
@Olivia Smith: For insurance reasons, can’t claim money back for flights/hotel until the state advises against travel there
@Niall: Maybe they can drain the fountains just in case any clown tries to wash their feet :D
@Sophie: Now would you really be worried about getting money back? I’d rather have my health/life and feck the flight/hotel cost.
@Olivia Smith: foot in mouth disease?
@Niall: only if they sucked their toes after washing them in the fountain :D
Stop and think. Order a chipper instead of a Chinese this Friday. Be safe people.
@MitchConnor: What! Off the Italians? Are ya mad or what!
@Sean Whelan: damn it. last resort ill have to cook food myself.
@MitchConnor: Just get some of those doughnuts next to the coffee machine in a petrol station. They’ll be grand.
@MitchConnor: Go for an indian, or if you’re really fancy a Nepalese.
Send Simon and Leo over just to check it out and get a good price on a new hospital
While according to the departments website Irish citizens travelling to South Korea are advised to travel as normal…
Literally just back from the North of Italy should probably not be in work.
Going by some of the clowns that comment on the journal one of them might go to Italy just to try and prove it’s a secret plot by the EU to cull us all ;-)
Stock market to crash next.
@Paraic: it’s all engineered by the fat cats who will buy up big while stock prices are low, then make huge profits when the stocks inevitably go up again.
And the makers of surgical masks. Them too.
@Paraic: not funny!
You can only travel to America, there is no virus, wait! mhmm, suspicious…
These are the affected areas… not exactly touristy places. Mostly small suburbs in Lombardy and Veneto. https://images.app.goo.gl/bMk7hsCCyEwgpTGs5
My son , daughter in law and grandson live in Mantova Italy and they are in lock down.Hoping to come here in March and have heard nothing from airline whether they can fly or not.
have your say