Face-masks are becoming a common sight on the streets of Rome as tourists take precautionary measures following further outbreaks of coronavirus in Italy, whereas others have cancelled their trip completely, experts say.
Italian authorities on Tuesday reported a woman had tested positive for coronavirus in Sicily, the first case south of Rome, as the country battles to prevent the outbreak spreading from its origin in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto.
Sicily's regional governor Nello Musumeci said a tourist from Bergamo, in Lombardy, had been hospitalized in the island's capital Palermo after being diagnosed with the illness and all those traveling with her had been quarantined.
The number of cases in Italy, the country in Europe worst affected, rose to more than 260 overnight from 229 on Monday, with 34 new cases reported in Lombardy and six new ones in Veneto. The number of deaths was unchanged at seven.
The tourist industry, which accounts for about 13% of GDP, fears a plunge in bookings as the government has ordered a clampdown on public events including soccer matches, cinemas and theaters.
Milan cathedral was closed to visitors, the Venice carnival, one of the world's premier tourist attractions, was shut early for the first time in decades and airlines began restricting flights to Italy.
As economists warned that the outbreak in Italy would probably tip its already stagnant economy into recession, a senior official said the government may need to call on the European Union to offer leeway on its budget targets.
"Economists say it is going to have a significant impact," Reuters correspondent Gavin Jones said. "One former chief economist at the Italian treasury told me yesterday that he expected GDP to fall by 0.5 or one percent, quarter on quarter in the first quarter, which is a major hit to an already very sickly economy."
Italy has proportionally the highest public debt in the euro zone after Greece's and has long struggled to respect the bloc's strict borrowing rules.
Even before the outbreak of the virus, which triggered a fall of more than 5% on the Milan bourse on Monday, Italy was teetering on the edge of recession, after gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.3% in the fourth quarter of 2019.
Officials from the World Health Organization and the European Union were due to meet in Rome on Tuesday to discuss the crisis, which first broke out in China and has now spread to about 29 other countries and territories.
REUTERS