Italy to ban public events, handshakes and hugs to contain coronavirus

A woman leaves the a pre-triage medical tent in front of the Cremona hospital, in Cremona, northern Italy, on March 4, 2020. Italy will recommend people stop kissing in public, avoid shaking hands and keep a safe distance from each other to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. Other measures to be approved by the government, which has borne the brunt of the COVID-19 disease, includes a plan to play all football matches behind closed doors.(AFP)

ROME: Italy’s government is set to close cinemas and theaters and ban public events across the whole country to try to contain the coronavirus outbreak, according to a draft decree drawn up on Wednesday.
The decree seen by Reuters orders “the suspension of events of any nature... that entail the concentration of people and do not allow for a safety distance of at least one meter (yard) to be respected.”
The draft decree also tells Italians to avoid hugging and shaking hands to prevent as much as possible a further spread of the potentially deadly illness which has been mainly concentrated in the country’s northern regions.