Italy sealed off entire towns and canceled major events after 400 coronavirus cases and 12 deaths made it the most infected country outside of Asia

REUTERS/Flavio Lo Scalzo

• Italy is scrambling to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus within its borders as cases of COVID-19 soar.
• Italy has the most cases outside of Asia. As of Wednesday evening, 12 people there had died from the disease.
• The country has put almost a dozen towns under lockdown, canceled major sporting events, and debated closing its borders with neighboring countries.
• The two most infected regions are Lombardy and Veneto in the north of Italy, home to Milan and Venice. New cases are also being reported in southern Italy.
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Italy is scrambling to fight a coronavirus outbreak after a sharp spike in cases and deaths made it the worst-hit country outside of Asia.

As of Wednesday evening, 12 people in Italy had died from the virus. Italian authorities reported at least 400 cases of COVID-19 in the country, according to the BBC.

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See Also:

• China said it would relax its lockdown of Wuhan's 11 million residents, only to immediately reintroduce it
• China canceled the central event of its political calendar because of the coronavirus, a stark symbol of how it has lost control of the outbreak
• Cases of the coronavirus are spiking outside of China and the World Health Organization warned 'the window of opportunity is narrowing' to contain it

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