Coronavirus Tests Europe's Open Borders as Italy Death Toll Rises

Schools are closed and gatherings are banned as Italy reports a sixth virus-related death

By Margherita Stancati in Rome and Eric Sylvers in Milan

Updated Feb. 24, 2020 5:13 pm ET

Italy reported a seventh death from the coronavirus Monday, as authorities imposed quarantines and other restrictions in the country's economic heartland to fight what is now the world's third-biggest national outbreak after China and South Korea.

Italian authorities on Monday shut down schools, universities and museums across the country's north, and banned public and private gatherings, including soccer matches and cultural events. In Milan, the famed Scala opera house was closed. Venice ended its annual carnival early. Catholic Church leaders announced the suspension of Masses.

The outbreak and disruptions in northern Italy, part of the wealthy industrial core of the European Union, are set to test the resilience of the bloc's economy, which is already hurting from global trade tensions and, in places, starting to feel the knock-on effects of dislocations from the coronavirus in China and its neighbors.

The virus's sudden upsurge in Europe will also test the EU's ability to act in a policy area where virtually all power lies with national governments, and where there is little recent experience of coordinating to fight a major contagion. The public-health threat, and the mounting anxiety prompted by the virus, could create pressure on EU countries to consider travel controls. The bloc's commitment to free movement last came under political pressure during the migration crisis of 2015-16.

Most of the 229 people confirmed infected in Italy are in the wealthy region of Lombardy, concentrated in an area south of Milan. In 11 towns at the center of the outbreak—10 of them in Lombardy with a combined population of 50,000—residents are banned from leaving the area.

The virus had also spread to other northern regions, prompting authorities to ban or restrict activities in an attempt to limit new infections. The regions affected by restrictions are home to around 27 million people.

The crisis is starting to pressure Europe's commitment to open borders and free travel.

Austria on Sunday temporarily halted trains from Italy after concerns that two passengers on one train might have the virus. They tested negative and train traffic resumed. Austrian officials have considered further controls on the Italian border but are wary of acting because of the countries' deep economic links, according to people familiar with the matter.

In Romania, authorities sought written statements from all air passengers arriving from Italy about their whereabouts in the country. All 140 passengers who landed Sunday in the city of Craiova from Bergamo, Lombardy, said they hadn't been to the quarantined areas and were allowed to go home. "We have to believe them, what else can we do. They seemed serious people who realize there is a danger," said Liliana Nica, an epidemiologist at the Romanian public-health department.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said quarantines of entire communities could also be required in Germany if the virus spreads there, adding that no measure could be ruled out. He commended Italy for its swift reaction to the outbreak there.

France said it had no plans to curb travel from Italy. "Closing borders wouldn't make much sense because the virus doesn't propagate itself according to administrative boundaries," Jean-Baptiste Djebbari, France's junior minister in charge of transportation, said on French television.

EU authorities said on Monday they would provide some €230 million ($249 million) in financial support for efforts to contain the virus. But the EU and its executive arm, the Brussels-based European Commission, can do little more than offer to coordinate national efforts. In Europe, powers over health and travel measures remain with the bloc's 27 national governments. The EU only has authority in areas where member countries have given it sway, such as antitrust regulation and foreign trade.

Inside the quarantined area of northern Italy, streets were deserted and most people remained in their homes, according to residents.

"Looking out my window I haven't seen a single person or car all morning and at this time there should be people out walking their dogs and people in their cars going to work," said Claudia Ferrari, 79 years old, who lives in Codogno, one of the quarantined towns.

Ms. Ferrari has a daughter who lives just outside the quarantined area and isn't able to check on her.

"I'm worried, but whatever happens, happens," she said. "I'm almost 80 and I've had my life. I'm worried about the kids."

Italian authorities are trying to figure out how the outbreak started. Until recently, the only people infected in Italy were two Chinese tourists and an Italian man who had been to Wuhan, the epicenter of the epidemic. All three were hospitalized in Rome.

The first person to test positive for the virus in the latest outbreak is a 38-year-old man from Codogno. He was sick for days before he was tested for coronavirus. In the hospital where he was treated, the virus spread to patients and medical staff. Several people he came into contact with, including his pregnant wife, were infected. But how the man contracted the virus in the first place remains a mystery, since he had never been to China.

The effects of the viral outbreak are reverberating beyond the quarantine area as authorities try to stop the spread of the virus. In Milan, 40 miles northwest of Codogno, the iconic cathedral has been closed.

At the height of rush hour, commuter trains arriving in Milan carried a fraction of the people they normally would on a Monday morning, after authorities called upon people to work from home if possible. On a train arriving at Milan's Cadorna train station from the town of Saronno, about a quarter of the seats were occupied. Normally there would be standing room only.

In Venice, the Fenice opera house was closed until further notice and the city's famous carnival festival, where thousands of revelers fill the city's narrow streets throughout the day and night, was cut short.

The Archdiocese of Milan, Italy's largest, suspended Masses until further notice. The Diocese of Venice and the Archdiocese of Genoa suspended Masses for a week.

The smaller Diocese of Padua, near Venice, suspended all church worship, including funerals, for a week starting midnight Sunday. Already, individual churches had taken extraordinary precautions. At the parish church of Trambacche on Sunday, 10 miles from the quarantined town of Vo' Euganeo, congregants avoided shaking hands at the sign of peace and volunteers swabbed down the pews with hand sanitizer after every Mass.

Outbreaks elsewhere in the world also accelerated, including in the Middle East.

In Iran, the death toll from the disease rose to at least 12, with 61 cases confirmed in the country, Deputy Health Minister Iraj Harirchi said.

Iranian authorities said the epicenter of the outbreak there was Qom, one of the country's main pilgrimage sites, and officials asked people not to leave the city but stressed that there wasn't a quarantine there.

As new cases were announced, neighboring countries closed their borders with Iran. Iraq banned entry from Iran for non-Iraqis, while Kuwait began evacuating some 700 citizens visiting the religious Iranian city of Mashhad, according to official Kuwaiti news agency Kuna.

In Israel, officials scrambled over the weekend to reach people who might have come into contact with a South Korean tour group that had visited Israel and the West Bank, after at least nine members tested positive for the coronavirus after returning to South Korea.

As of Monday, Israel banned all foreigners who had been to South Korea and Japan over the past two weeks from entering the country over concerns they could spread the coronavirus. Israel is already denying entry to visitors from China, Hong Kong, Macau, Thailand and Singapore.