Coronavirus: Italy closes all major sporting events to curb spread

All major sporting events will reportedly be closed in Italy until April 3 due to the coronavirus outbreak. The government announced that it will no longer conduct sports, after it rescheduled England’s Six Nations match to be held in Rome on March 14. The ruling will be enforced in the entire country.

According to the reports, the announcement comes as the Italian government scrambles to elevate response to the epidemic that has infected at least 3,089 and killed 107 in Italy. The region of Lombardy has been hit the worst. Total cases have surpassed 93,000 globally, with the majority of cases coming from China.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte declared that the preventive measure restricts fans to assemble in large numbers. It is a part of the new decree issued by his government to stem the contagion spread, suggest media reports. He added a 5-minute clip on his official Facebook page, reassuring Italian nationals that the recent ban of the crowd would help curb “potential opportunities of infection”.

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Sporting events shelved

The Italian government, however, proposed that a few sporting events can proceed behind closed doors; in open but without the public. The Italian Cup semi-finals, Juventus against AC Milan, due to be held this week in Turin and Napoli's clash with Inter Milan at the Stadio San Paolo have both been postponed. No new dates have been announced yet as per the agency report. Another May 13 Finals has been postponed by at least a week. Serie A TIM, a professional league competition for football clubs has suspended at least 10 of its football matches since the last fortnight.

More than six games, including the title clash between Juve and Inter, have been shelved, matches rescheduled for weeks ahead since past the Saturday. Italy's Six Nations rugby union match against Ireland in Dublin has been postponed and The Davis Cup tennis qualifier between Italy and South Korea in Cagliari will be held without the fans, confirmed reports.

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