Coronavirus: Foreign Office updates advice for people travelling to Italy

The Foreign Office has updated its travel advice to Italy because of the coronavirus outbreak in some parts of the country.

A spokesman said: “We advise against all but essential travel to 10 small towns in Lombardy and one in Veneto, which are currently in isolation due to an ongoing outbreak of coronavirus.

“Any British nationals already in these towns should follow the advice of the local authorities.”

The new advice reads: “The FCO advises against all but essential travel to 10 small towns in Lombardy (Codogno, Castiglione d’Adda, Casalpusterlengo, Fombio, Maleo, Somaglia, Bertonico, Terranova dei Passerini, Castelgerundo and San Fiorano) and one in Veneto (Vo’ Euganeo) which have been isolated by the Italian authorities due to an ongoing outbreak of coronavirus.”

It comes as three more people have died in the virus outbreak in Northern Italy, raising the death toll to 10.

The country has seen a surge of cases in recent days - on Friday the number of cases were in single figures, now there are at least 229 confirmed cases.

Health Secretary Matt Hancock earlier said he was “not planning” a trip to northern Italy, noting that official advice was for those who have been to anywhere in Italy north of Pisa to self-isolate if they develop flu-like symptoms on their return to the UK.

He told Sky News: “We don’t think there are any Brits in the area that has been quarantined by the Italian government but the Government does not track where people move around Europe, so if people are in that area then they should get in contact and we will do what we can to help.”

The Health Secretary, who said it was a “significant outbreak” in Italy, was asked whether he would fly to the country.

“Certainly southern Italy is perfectly reasonable to travel to,” he replied.

But asked if he would travel to the north of the country under the current conditions, he said: “I’m not planning on (it), put it that way.”

Mr Hancock added: “If people go and then they come back and feel ill with flu-like symptoms then we are asking them to self-isolate and stay at home for two weeks and try not to come into contact with anybody else.

“So that is obviously quite a significant imposition on people, we get that, but of course the top priority is to keep the public safe.”

Reporting by Press Association.

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Is it safe to travel to Italy? The latest Foreign Office advice