At least 229 people in Italy have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and six people have died. Police staffed checkpoints around quarantined towns in Italy's north on February 24 and residents stocked up on food as the country became the focal point of the outbreak in Europe and fears of its cross-border spread.

On December 31, Chinese authorities informed the World Health Organization (WHO) about an outbreak of an unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan - a large trade and industrial center in central China populated by 12 million people. The source of the outbreak is the COVID-19 coronavirus. Besides China, the cases of COVID-19 have been detected in 32 countries, including Russia. The WHO declared the coronavirus outbreak in China a global health emergency.