Coronavirus: Italy To Quarantine Milan, Venice As Death Count Rises To 233

The Italian government is planning to quarantine region around Milan as well as areas around and including Venice and the northern cities of Parma and Rimini to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. Italy's death toll from the novel coronavirus rose by 36 to 233 on Saturday while the number of infections shot up by a single-day record of 1,247 to hit 5,883.

Milan is the Italian financial capital and has a population of just under 1.4 million people. The entire Lombardy region is home to 10 million. However, it was not clear when the plan will be implemented.

Italy has recorded the most deaths of any country outside China and the third-most COVID-19 infections after China and South Korea.

The virus was officially named COVID-19 at a conference in Geneva held by the World Health Organization, where the body's chief said countries had a chance of stopping its global spread.

The novel virus reportedly first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year and has claimed over 3,500 lives globally. In China, the virus has already claimed nearly 3,097 lives with 27 fresh cases reported on Sunday. Near 1 lakh people have now been infected with the COVID-19 strain in the mainland.

In Iran, death toll continued to rise on Saturday with 21 more people killed, including a politician who became the eighth official to succumb to the disease. On Saturday, a newly elected conservative MP for the city was the second Iranian lawmaker killed by the virus, state news agency IRNA reported.

Fatemeh Rahbar, 55, served as MP from 2004 to 2016 and was among the top candidates in Tehran for the conservatives, who overwhelmingly won February's general election marked by the lowest turnout in the Islamic republic's history. Seven other politicians and government officials have died in the outbreak since the country reported its first cases in mid-February.

(With Agency Inputs)