Italy cancels ALL SPORT until April 3 as the government steps up measures to prevent spread of the coronavirus with Serie A and Olympic qualifiers wiped out for almost a month
* Italy will suspend all sport until April 3 as the country battles coronavirus
* Last weekend, Serie A games were played behind closed doors to stop spread
* Italy now has the third-highest number of cases, behind China and South Korea
* The suspension is on Italian football but does not include the Champions League
All sport in Italy is to be suspended for the next month as the Italian authorities step up measures to prevent further spread of the coronavirus.
The Italian national Olympic committee confirmed the news on Monday, which includes all matches in Serie A, Italy's highest football division, but does not cover Italian clubs or national teams competing in international competitions such as the Champions League.
The committee, which oversees all sporting events in the country, said in a statement that the suspension will last until April 3 and that it would request a government decree to impose its decision.
Italy now has the third-highest number of coronavirus cases, behind China and South Korea, and action has been taken with all sport being suspended until April 3.
Italy is to suspend all sporting events until April 3 in a bid to prevent spread of coronavirus. Serie A games were played behind closed doors last weekend amid the growing uncertainty. Players will be left in limbo as government officials make the call on when sport will resume
In Italy, about 16 million people have been put under a widespread lockdown in the northern part of the country.
Italy's top soccer division had resumed on Sunday with five games played in empty stadiums. Twelve rounds remain, with eight-time defending champions Juventus holding a one-point lead over Lazio.
Serie A has not been canceled since World War II.
The announcement from the Italian Olympic Committee, which is known as CONI, came minutes before Sassuolo were to host Brescia in a match. The match began as scheduled.
The league is now under threat, though Serie A has not been cancelled since World War II. The Olympic committee's decision requires a government decree to impose its decision
CONI said its decision does not include international competition 'for clubs or national teams,' since it does not govern those. Juventus, Napoli and Atalanta are each competing in the Champions League, while Inter Milan and Roma are still in the Europa League.
Earlier, the Italian swimming federation said it was withdrawing its teams from international events and canceled an Olympic qualifying meet scheduled for next week in Riccione.
The Tokyo Games are scheduled to begin in four months. More than 300 Italian athletes qualified for the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
In France, police said that the Champions League match between Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund at Parc des Princes will be played without fans.
It is the second of the four matches in the competition this week to be played in an empty stadium. Spanish authorities previously recommended restrictions on games involving teams from areas in Italy with high numbers of virus cases and said the Valencia-Atalanta match on Tuesday will take place without fans in attendance.
'Health protection is the top priority for everyone,' read a statement from the committee.
The government had already ordered that all sporting events, including matches in Serie A, to be played behind closed doors to avoid crowds of people that could boost the contagion.
The country has been rocked by the spread of the disease and reported its biggest daily increase in coronavirus (COVID-19) cases since its outbreak began with a total of 7,375, including 366 deaths.
Last weekend's Serie A games had been played behind closed doors in a bid to stop mass public gatherings at the country battles to contain the virus that developed from Wuhan.
Vincenzo Spadafora, Italy's sport minister, said he supported a call from Italian football players' association president Damiano Tommasi to avoid putting players at risk amid the virus outbreak.
A definitive answer is expected in the next 24 hours over whether the rugby league match between Catalans Dragons and Leeds, due to be played on Saturday, can go ahead.
The organisers of rugby union's European Champions Cup and Challenge Cup competitions, EPCR, say the quarter-final ties scheduled for the weekend of April 3-5 are still set to play out as planned.
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