Italian News Agency, ASNA, has reported today that following a meeting between the Prime Minister Guiseppe Conta and ministers at Palazzo Chigi today, the Italian government is set to close all schools and universities for two weeks.

Northern Italian schools, businesses and universities have been closed for a week now following the coronavirus outbreak resulting in towns in the North of the country going into quarantine.

There have been 2,500 confirmed cases of the virus in Northern Italy, with 79 confirmed deaths, making it the most affected area outside of China.

Professor Kingston Mills, an expert in immunology and the head of the centre for the study of immunology at Trinity College, Dublin, has also come out today to ask the questions of should flights still be running in and out of Italy given the severity of the outbreak. He said; "We need to look more seriously at means of curtailing travel to that region."

Mills, who spoke with RTE's Sean O'Rourke this morning on The Sean O'Rourke Show said he queried the information put out by the HSE saying that the virus could be contracted within 15 minutes of being in the company of someone who has the virus saying, "fifteen minutes is an arbitrary figure".

There has been no evidence so far in Ireland that shows local transmission of the virus, which is slowing the spread of Covid-19 in the country.

Ryanair have also confirmed there has been a notable drop in the number of flight bookings from the middle of March right into next month.

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Italian Government to close all school and universities - Buzz.ie