The Department of Foreign Affairs has upgraded travel advice for Irish citizens to recommend against travel to the whole of Italy.
The warning was issued following a country-wide lockdown across Italy, the centre of the Coronavirus outbreak in Europe.
Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney tweeted this morning that the travel guidance was issued “in light of internal developments” in Italy, where there are up to 9,172 cases of coronavirus. The death toll has reached 463, the most of any country outside of China.
Minister Coveney said Taoiseach Leo Varadkar will raise the issue of flights and further EU-wide responses during a telephone conference with the European Council later today.