Carnival, football and rugby cancelled in Italy
Scotland Women’s Six Nations match with Italy was postponed yesterday amid fears over the spread of coronavirus.
Threeserieafootballmatches were also called off by the Italian government because of an increased number of cases in the Veneto and Lombardy regions.
Scotland were due to play Italy in Legnano on Sunday. Scottish Rugby has put plans in place for all staff and players to travel back to Scotland immediately.
Venice’s famed carnival events were also cancelled in a bid to stop the spread of the virus, as the number of infected persons in Italy soared to at least 133.
Carnival, which draws tens of thousands of visitors to the lagoon city, would have run until Tuesday.
Authorities said three people in Venice have tested positive, all of them in their late 80s and who remain in hospital in critical condition. Nearly all of Italy’s cases are clustered in the north, including the northeast Veneto region.
Italians’ cherished Sunday routines – from football to church-going – were hit by the spread of the contagion.
Bishops in several dioceses in northern Italy issued directives that holy water fonts be kept empty, that communion wafers be placed in the hands of the faithful and not directly into their mouths by priests celebrating Mass, and that congregants refrain from shaking hands or exchanging kisses during the symbolic Sign of the Peace ritual.
Italy’s first cases – that of a married Chinese couple who were on holiday in Rome – surfaced in early February.