Coronavirus: Italian tourist board insists country is safe

That is the message from the Italian National Tourist Board amid the country’s ongoing coronavirus outbreak.

Italy is one of the worst-affected countries beyond China; more than 2,500 cases of the Covid-19 coronavirus have been confirmed, resulting in 79 deaths.

However, the majority of cases are confined to several regions in northern Italy – none of which are renowned tourist destinations.

Italian authorities have taken strong precautionary measures to isolate the infection, essentially sealing off 11 towns; 10 in Lombardy, and another in Veneto.

While the Foreign Office continues to advise against all but essential travel to all 11 affected towns, it has placed no restrictions on travel to the rest of the country.

Airlines, though, have reduced capacity on account of the outbreak, with Wizz Air becoming the latest on Wednesday (4 March) to trim Italy flight capacity.