Canada Has Issued Its Strictest Travel Advisory For Italy Since The COVID-19 Outbreak

Our country is taking another step to protect the health and safety of Canadians. The Italy travel advisory issued by Canada is the strictest one for the country since the outbreak of COVID-19 began. If it's not necessary for you to travel there, the government wants you to stay where you are.

The government has upped the risk level associated with travelling to Italy and is asking Canadians to avoid non-essential travel to the entire country because of the virus and the measures being taken to stop its spread.

Those measures include the entire country being placed under lockdown on March 9 which is an escalation from when just places in the north were shut down.

Specifically, Canada doesn't want people to travel to Italy because of the "restrictive measures throughout the country to control the spread of the coronavirus disease."

As of March 10, it is only the third place in the world to have a travel health notice at a level three.

A risk level three means that citizens shouldn't travel there if they don't absolutely have to, in order to protect their health and the health of the general public.

From March 9 to April 3, all travel to and from Italy is being controlled and movement within the country is only being allowed in cases of necessity.

There are also other measures in place to stop the spread of COVID-19 in Italy along with the travel restrictions.

Schools, museums, and cultural sites are closed and public and private events have been suspended.

Also, restaurants, bars, and other similar establishments have to operate under special conditions and limited business hours.

According to Reuters, there have been more than 9,000 confirmed cases of the virus in Italy.

Health screenings are happening in lots of places across the country including along major highway routes.

If it's necessary for you to travel to Italy, you're already there, or you're going to go there anyway, the advisory suggests consulting the Italian Ministry of Health for region-specific information, following instructions from local authorities, monitoring the news and be ready for increased health screenings.

Air Canada has suspended all flights between Canada and Italy, with the last flight leaving Rome and arriving in Montreal on March 11.

Canada also issued warnings to avoid non-essential travel to China and Iran.

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