In an unprecedented and potentially legally fraught move, all of Italy and its 60 million residents have been placed under lockdown, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced on Monday, part of a raft of sweeping quarantine measures intended to contain the outbreak.

The northern region of Lombardy and 14 other provinces had already been placed under lockdown -- but this new decree will extend those restrictions across the entire country, as the virus continues to spread throughout Italy and mainland Europe.

The drastic measures include blanket travel restrictions, a ban on all public events, the closures of schools and public spaces such as movie theaters, and the suspension of religious services including funerals or weddings.

To enforce the movement ban, military police, railway police, and health workers are carrying out checks on transportation sites like highways and train stations. This lockdown represents the toughest coronavirus response to be implemented outside of mainland China, and comes as the country buckles under the weight of the epidemic.

Parts of Italy, particularly the northern regions, are seeing a "tsunami of patients," and the healthcare system is "one step from collapse," said Antonio Pesenti, intensive care coordinator in the Lombardy crisis unit.

So far, Italy has 9,172 cases and 463 deaths -- the most of any country outside of China.

Culled: https://edition.cnn.com/2020/03/10/world/coronavirus-covid-19-update-intl-hnk/index.html