British tourists told to leave Italy in new Foreign Office coronavirus travel advice

All remaining British tourists have been advised to leave Italy
AFP via Getty Images
Luke O'Reilly11 March 2020

All remaining British tourists have been told to leave Italy and come home, in new Foreign and Commonwealth Office travel advice.

The FCO's advice surrounding travel to Italy was updated on Wednesday, as 631 people were confirmed to have died after contracting Covid-19.

The Italian authorities have advised all tourists to end their travels and to return to where they live.

The Foreign Office has now doubled down on that advice and told all remaining British tourists in Italy to contact their airline operators to arrange a return to the UK as soon as possible.

Police officers wearing protective masks stand at a boarding gates
AFP via Getty Images

An FCO spokesperson told The Evening Standard: "British nationals remain able to depart Italy without restriction. Airports remain open throughout Italy. However, the Italian authorities have advised against travel for tourism purposes throughout Italy, and that tourists already on holiday in Italy should end their travel, unless it is necessary, to return to the place where they live.

"Airline schedules are subject to change and some flights are being cancelled. We therefore advise all remaining British tourists in Italy to contact their airline operators to arrange return to the UK as soon as possible."

It came after Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Wednesday that Italy will ramp up spending to help the economy cope with the impact of the coronavirus, earmarking 25 billion euros ($28.3 billion) to tackle the growing crisis

Italy pledged 25 billion euros to tackle the growing crisis
AFP via Getty Images

Last week the cabinet said it would need just 7.5 billion euros, but since then the emergency has escalated dramatically and the entire nation is under lockdown, freezing much economic activity in a nation that was already flirting with recession.

Conte warned that already tough restrictions on movement might be tightened further after the northern region of Lombardy asked for all shops to shut and public transport to close

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in