“Italy is a safe country:” Italy’s tourist board speaks out amidst COVID-19 outbreak

Despite a recent outbreak of the coronavirus in northern regions of Italy, the Italian Tourist Board is telling the world that the country is still a safe place to live and visit.

“The remainder of the country, including the Italian regions where the cities in temporary isolation are located, is safe and accessible,” the Italian National Tourist Board stated in a release on Friday (Feb 28). “All services and activities for citizens and tourists are normally provided and the quality of life, for which Italy is famous world-wide, remains high.”

Italy, where 17 people have died from the virus, has quarantined 11 towns – Lombardy (the region around Milan) and Veneto (which includes Venice) are declared “red zones.”

These regions are home to approximately 55,000 people.

Any sites or attractions that have temporary closed are considered “extraordinary preventive actions” and “have nothing to do with the spreading of the virus throughout the Italian territory,” the tourism board stated.

In accordance with the data provided by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to date only 0.05 per cent of Italy is affected by measures of temporary isolation of some Italian cities (equal to 0.1 per cent of the total), which aims to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

Only 11 out of 7,904 Italian cities are currently impacted by such measures, the tourism board stated.

These include:

• Lombardy: Bertonico, Casalpusterlengo, Castelgerundo, Castiglione D'Adda, Codogno, Fombio, Maleo, San Fiorano, Somaglia, and Terranova dei Passerini
• Veneto: Vo’ Euganeo

For additional information on the situation in Italy, travel agents and travellers are encouraged to consult the following links:

• Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation
• Ministry of Health 
• National Institute of Health
• EpiCentro, portal of epidemiology for public health
• World Health Organization

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