Italy is set to ban public events and close all schools and universities in a bid to contain the spread of coronavirus, as the death toll in the country rose to 79.

The government ordered classrooms across the country to shut until mid-March. 

Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte reportedly agreed the closures during a cabinet meeting, although the country’s education minister said a final decision had not yet been confirmed. Schools and universities in the worst-affected regions of northern Italy, where a handful of towns have been quarantined, had already closed 10 days ago.