A coronavirus scare sparked a snap travel freeze between Austria and Italy tonight, as officials in Vienna scrambled to block the deadly infection breaching the border.
Ministers in Rome are firefighting a spike in the number of cases and have taken drastic action to contain the spread of the outbreak.
Venice's flagship carnival celebrations as well as all other public events have been postponed for at least one week.
And Italian designer Giorgio Armani announced he would be cancelling his Milan fashion show, instead opting to stream it online.
But the jump in confirmed diagnoses to 155 has made neighbouring countries hyper-sensitive, and tonight saw Austria prevent a suspected contaminated train from crossing the border.
The train carrying about 300 passengers from Venice to Munich was halted on the Italian side of the Brenner Pass for four hours before two people who had come down with flu-like symptoms tested negative.
Austria's interior ministry later said in a statement: 'We can give the all-clear,' but added all passengers disembarking in would have their identities checked as a precaution.
Armani released a statement this morning announcing the cancellation of today's 4pm show which read: 'The show will be shown behind closed doors, due to the recent developments of coronavirus in Italy, live-streamed in front of an empty teatro on the Armani website, therefore please do not attend the show this afternoon.'
Italian authorities also postponed three football matches in the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto because of coronavirus fears, with the number of infections in the country now totalling 155.
On orders from the government, the Italian league games that were set to be played today - Inter Milan v Sampdoria, Atalanta v Sassuolo and Hellas Verona v Cagliari - were called off.
However three other matches in Genoa, Turin and Rome on Sunday were allowed to go ahead as scheduled with many fans wearing facemasks while sitting in the stands.
The famed Le Scala theatre in Milan has similarly cancelled all its upcoming operas for the foreseeable future.
A note left at the entrance, written in both Italian and English, read: 'The Teatro alla Scala's performances are suspended in relation to the spread of the coronavirus as a precautionary measure pending the provisions of the competent authorities.'
A dozen towns went into lockdown on Saturday, with 50,000 people were asked to stay indoors, after the deaths and a growing number of cluster cases with no direct links to the origin of the outbreak abroad.
The secondary contagions prompted local authorities in the Lombardy and Veneto regions to close schools, businesses and restaurants and to cancel sporting events and Masses.
The mayor of Milan, Italy's business capital and the regional capital of Lombardy, also shut public offices.
Italy became the first country in Europe to announce a death from coronavirus on Friday when retired bricklayer Adriano Trevisan, 78, died in a hospital in Padua after being admitted to the hospital for another health issue ten days ago, said local authorities.
His daughter, Vanessa, had been Mayor of Vo' Euganeo, a small town of 3,300 inhabitants which is now under lockdown.
A post-mortem of a 77-year-old woman in Lombardy also came back positive for coronavirus but it is not yet clear if it was the cause of her death.
Her death triggered the closing down of shops, offices and community centres in Casalpusterlengo, according to Italian news agency Ansa.
The third victim known to be infected with the coronavirus was an elderly female cancer patient who died earlier today, taking the death toll in Italy up to three.
The only other fatality in Europe was a Chinese tourist who died last week in France.
Hundreds of residents and workers in Italy who came into contact with those confirmed as infected are currently in isolation pending test results.
Civil protection crews set up a tent camp outside a closed hospital in Veneto to screen medical staff for the virus.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte expressed his sympathies over the deaths and said he had called an emergency meeting following the sudden jump in the number of those infected.
He said: 'I was surprised by this explosion of cases. We will do everything we can to contain the contagion.'
The few people that did leave their homes wore coveted face masks which have largely sold out in pharmacies.
The president of Lombardy, Attilio Fontana, said there were 110 confirmed cases in the region, where 10 towns received orders to suspend non-essential activities and services.
Health Minister Luca Zaia said on Saturday that the contagion showed that the virus is transmitted like any other flu and trying to pinpoint a single source of infection or one with direct links to China is no longer effective.
He said 'You can get it from anyone. We can expect to have cases of patients who had no contact (with suspected carriers).'
The virus itself is not considered to be particularly lethal unless it is contracted by the elderly or people with existing conditions, he said.
The first town to be shuttered was Codogno, with a population of 15,000, where three people tested positive for the virus, including a 38-year-old man and his wife, who is eight months pregnant.
The 38-year-old, who works for Unilever in Lodi, is believed to have contracted the virus after meeting a friend for a drink who had recently returned from China.
He is now reportedly in a stable condition in hospital.
One of his friends from a running club, the son of a bar owner in Codogno as well as three regulars at the bar have now also tested positive.
Tests are underway on the 38-year-old's doctor, who made a house call on him, as well as on 120 people he worked with in the research and development branch of Unilever in Casalpusterlengo, said Lombardy regional health chief Giulio Gallera.
Codogno mayor Francesco Passerini said the news of the cases 'has sparked alarm' throughout the town south of Milan.
Five doctors and 14 other people tested positive for the virus in Lombardy, after apparently frequenting the same bar, with two other cases in Veneto, authorities said at a press conference.
Codogno resident Carmelo Falcone, 76, said: 'We are old and we are very concerned.
'I live on my own. I really don't know what to do.'
Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza said Italy is now seeing the same sort of 'cluster' of cases that Germany and France have seen.
He signed an ordinance with Lombardy's regional president outlining measures to contain the cluster to the 10 towns so far affected: Codogno, Castiglione d'Adda, Casalpusterlengo, Maleo, Fombio, Bertonico, Castelgerundo, Terranova dei Passerini, Somaglia and San Fiorano.
The towns, which have between 1,000-15,000 residents each, are located around 37 miles southeast of Milan, Lombardy's capital and Italy's business centre.
The ordinance suspends public gatherings, commercial and business activity, sport, education, and other recreational activities throughout the region, according to Mr Speranza.
He defended the precautionary measures Italy had previously taken and noted that Italy remains the lone European country to have barred flights to and from China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
He added: 'We had the highest measures in Europe.'
Individual cities outside the core cordon area, such as Cremona, issued their own restrictions cancelling school after confirming their own cases.
Streets in the towns were deserted, with only a few people seen abroad, and signs showing public spaces closed.
In Casalpusterlengo, where the second patient died, a large electronic message board outside the town hall read 'Coronavirus: the population is invited to remain indoors as a precaution'.
Grocery stores in the area have reportedly only been allowing shoppers to enter in groups of 40 in 10-minute slots.
One police officer patrolling a checkpoint in the area said: 'We're going to quickly enforce a total blockade.
'We're letting people know that if they come in, they won't be able to leave.
'I have to admit they're taking it pretty well. You can see they were expecting it - that they were prepared in some way.'
Residents of the northern towns of Codogno and Castiglione d'Adda are being urged to stay at home as medical tests continue.
Some 250 people were being placed in isolation after coming into contact with the new cases, according to the Lombardy region, and 60 worker at Unilever have been tested for the virus.
Earlier today, 19 Italians who spent more than two weeks quarantined on a virus-stricken cruise liner in Japan landed at Rome's military Pratica di Mare airport.
They had been stranded on the Diamond Princess since February 5.
Following the first health checks and decontamination process, the passengers were transferred to the military campus of Cecchignola where they will spend a 14-day isolation period.
In Rome, doctors at the Spallanzani infectious disease hospital reported some good news in the otherwise bleak day after an Italian citizen who tested positive for the virus two weeks ago gets set to be released.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said it was concerned by the upsurge in new cases and a lack of clarity over its spread despite the number of cases outside China remaining relatively small.
The European Regional Director Hans Kluge said on Twitter: 'I am sending a... team to Italy to work together to learn about virus spread and (how to) contain it.'
The Director General of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, also took to social media to say that cases with no clear link include those with no travel history to China or contact with a confirmed case.
The disease remained mild in 80 per cent of coronavirus patients but was severe or critical in 20 per cent of patients, according to reports.
Mr Ghebreyesus added: 'Our biggest concern continues to be the potential for COVID-19 to spread in countries with weaker health systems.
'We have also published a strategic preparedness and response plan, with a call for $675million to support countries, especially those which are most vulnerable.'
Elsewhere, seven countries have imposed bans on people entering from Iran after the country announced that eight people had died from the new Covid-19 coronavirus and 43 have been infected.
These include Iraq, Pakistan, Turkey, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Armenia.
Similarly, officials in both South Korea and Japan have signaled in the past week that the spread is entering a new phase in their countries.
On Friday, South Korean Prime Minister Chung Se-kyun said the government would have to shift its focus from quarantine and border control to slowing the spread of the virus.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
