Italy on Sunday recorded the second-highest coronavirus toll in the world, after reporting a sharp jump in deaths and overtaking South Korea on infections.
The number of fatalities rose by 133 to 366 Sunday, according to the civil protection agency, with most deaths occurring in the hard-hit Lombardy region in Italy's wealthy north.
The country now has the most deaths of any country outside China, and the second-most COVID-19 infections in the world, after the number of cases rose by a single-day record of 1,492 to 7,375.
A doctor in a coronavirus pre-triage tent in Palermo, Italy. Source: AAP
South Korea currently has some 7,313 cases, and Sunday said its rate of infection was slowing.
Civil protection agency chief Angelo Borrelli said Italy was ordering 22 million surgical masks to help stop the spread.
The World Health Organization on Sunday saluted Italy's "genuine sacrifices" after the government put a quarter of the population under lockdown to try to halt the spread of the novel coronavirus.
"The government & the people of Italy are taking bold, courageous steps aimed at slowing the spread of the #coronavirus & protecting their country & world," WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a tweet.
"They are making genuine sacrifices. @WHO stands in solidarity with Italy & is here to continue supporting you."
Inmates revolt
Inmates in Italian prisons have revolted over new rules introduced to contain the coronavirus outbreak, leaving one prisoner dead and others injured, a prison rights group said Sunday.
Prisoners at jails in Naples Poggioreale in the south, Modena in the north, Frosinone in central Italy and at Alexandria in the northwest had all revolted over measures including a ban on family visits, unions said.
Similar scenes played out in Padova in the north and Bari, Foggia and Palermo in the south, media reports said.
Inmates protest on a wall of the Poggioreale prison in Naples, Italy, 8 March, 2020. Source: AAP
Rights group Antigone said an inmate had died at the Modena jail, though the circumstances were not yet clear.
"We had already warned tensions were growing in prisons, and that we feared it could end in tragedy," it said in a statement following the revolts.
"All necessary measures must be taken to ensure prisoners their full rights, stopping this escalation of tension and preventing others from dying. One death is already too much," it said.
At Modena, near Bologna, two prison officers were injured and around 20 staff members had to leave the prison.
Lombardy lockdown
More than 15 million people were placed under forced quarantine in northern Italy early Sunday as the government approved drastic measures in an attempt to halt the spread of the deadly coronavirus that is sweeping the globe.
The new measures will apply to about a quarter of Italy's population of over 60 million people and will be in force at least until 3 April.
Cinemas, theatres and museums nationwide have also been closed.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Twitter he had signed off on plans to strictly limit movement in and out of large areas including Venice and the financial capital Milan for nearly a month.
"#Coronavirus, the new decree is finally approved," Mr Conte wrote, confirming earlier reports of the lockdown in the newspaper Corriere Della Sera and other media.
With more than 350 fatalities, Italy has recorded the most deaths from the COVID-19 disease of any country outside China, where the outbreak began in December.
Italy has the world's second-oldest population after Japan, according to the World Bank, and older people appear to be more vulnerable to becoming severely ill with the new coronavirus.
Without a "serious" reason that cannot be postponed, such as urgent work or family issues, people will not be allowed to enter or leave the quarantine zones, Corriere Della Sera reported.
These include the entire Lombardy region as well as Venice and its surrounding areas, and the cities of Parma and Rimini - affecting a quarter of Italy's population of 60 million.
A man sits at a table in Largo Argentina square amid growing concern about the spread of a new coronavirus in Rome Saturday, 7 March. Source: EPA
People will be allowed to return home from outside these regions, while bars and restaurants are allowed to remain open provided it is possible for customers to stay a metre away from one another.
The measures echo those taken in China's central Hubei province, whose nearly 60 million residents have been under lockdown since late January when the government rushed to put a lid on the virus that first emerged in the regional capital, Wuhan.
Worldwide, the total number of people with COVID-19 has passed 100,000 while 3,500 have died across 95 nations and territories.
The disease has convulsed markets and paralysed global supply chains, and Italy has found itself at the forefront of the global fight against the virus, with more than 5,800 infections recorded in the past seven weeks in all 22 Italian regions.
The virus has now spread to all 22 Italian regions and the first deaths are being recorded in Italy's less well medically equipped south.
