Italy wakes to even tighter virus lockdown

Italians have woken to even stricter restrictions on their daily lives after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced new measures to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

All shops are now shuttered except food shops, pharmacies, tobacconists and newspaper sellers.

Cafes and restaurants, previously allowed to open to customers in the daytime, are now restricted to delivery service only, except for those in transport hubs.

Italy is battling with the world's worst coronavirus outbreak after China.

Latest figures show 12,426 contagions, with 827 deaths.

On Thursday morning, bakers in Rome opened and sold bread, milk and cakes. There was no bigger rush than on previous days, a salesperson said. Public buses and some cars were on the streets of the capital.

Television pictures from the northwestern city of Genoa showed sparse traffic, with a few people queueing outside an open shop, keeping well beyond the official 1-metre distance from each other.

"Italy closes," said the main front-page headline on newspaper La Repubblica.

Conte warned Italians on Wednesday night not to expect immediate results from the increasingly restrictive measures.

"We will be able to see the effects of our great effort only in a few weeks, in a couple of weeks," he said.

The premier said banks, post offices and transport services would remain operational, as would factories and offices provided they adopt measures to keep workers apart.

Government offices are encouraging flexible working.