Italian police block roads around Codogno

Italian police on Monday set up ro blocks at entrances to rrn town of Codog as Italy scrambled to check spre of Europe's first major outbreak of new viral disease.

Amid rapidly rising numbers of infections and a third death, Italy has called off popular Venice Carnival, scrapped major league football matches in stricken area and shuttered aters, including Milan's legendary La Scala.

In Lombardy, a populous region which includes country's financial capital, Milan, nearly all cases of COVID-19 were in countryside, mainly in Codog and nine neighboring towns.

In those towns, only grocery stores and pharmacies were permitted to open, and people weren't supposed to enter or leave towns.

So far in Italy 152 cases have been detected and three people have died.