Italy: PM Conte announces measures to combat virus spread

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Saturday the government had issued a decree placing several northern towns on lockdown because of the virus that's spread from China.

All businesses and schools in the affected towns have been shut, and three Serie A soccer matches scheduled for Sunday in the Veneto and Lombardy areas have been postponed.

Italy has seen a sharp rise in the number of virus cases in the past two days, with 76 confirmed cases and two deaths.

But Conte said he had ruled out the idea of suspending the European Union's Schengen agreement, a development that would stop the free movement of people and goods across Italy's borders.

He said such a move wouldn't work, and would have a devastating impact on Italy's economy.