---
title: "Italy Imposes Nationwide Travel Restrictions as Death Toll Soars"
description: "Italian PM Giuseppe Conte announced that coronavirus measures would be extended nationwide with travel only permitted for work or family emergencies"
date: "2020-03-09"
modified: "2020-03-09"
authors:
  - name: "Victor Tangermann"
    job_title: "Senior Editor"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/italy-nationwide-travel-restrictions-death-toll-soars"
categories:
  - "Developments"
  - "Health & Medicine"
tags:
  - "coronavirus"
  - "covid-19"
  - "italy"
  - "virus"
---

# Italy Imposes Nationwide Travel Restrictions as Death Toll Soars

![](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Italy-Imposes-Nationwide-Travel-Restrictions-Death-Toll-Soars-1.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

In a televised address today, Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced that coronavirus quarantine measures would be extended nationwide with travel only permitted for work or family emergencies, as the [*BBC* reports](<https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-51810673>).

In the address, Conte said that the best thing was for citizens to stay at home, in large part to protect the most fragile members of society.

Outside of China, Italy now has the highest number of deaths due to the coronavirus outbreak with 463 — a rise of 97 in just the last 24 hours. There are now over 9,000 confirmed cases, surpassing South Korea, [according to the *Wall Street Journal*](<https://www.wsj.com/articles/italy-bolsters-quarantine-checks-after-initial-lockdown-confusion-11583756737>).

Conte also called for a total ban of public gatherings, including all football matches, across the entire country.

Making matters worse, inmates at 22 Italian prisons rioted on Monday, escaping facilities and kidnapping officers, [according to *CNN*](<https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/09/europe/coronavirus-italy-lockdown-intl/index.html>), after visitors were banned to reign in the spread of the virus.

The riots also occurred after Italy's interior ministry announced severe penalties, three months in prison, for anybody who attempts to flee the lockdown in northern Italy.

## Author
I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida.

### Author social links  
[Bluesky](<https://bsky.app/profile/vtanger.bsky.social>)