- As the novel coronavirus continues to spread, some countries are putting their citizens on lockdown.
- "Lockdown" isn't a technical term used by public health officials , but Italy, China, and El Salvador are three countries that have implemented the largest and most restrictive mass quarantines.
- More than 5,000 people have died and over 136,000 have been infected by the virus worldwide.
- Wuhan, China, where the virus first appeared, has been locked down for more than six weeks, and many other Chinese cities still face travel restrictions.
- Italy's 60 million citizens were put under a strict lockdown this week after a jump in COVID-19 cases.
- El Salvador, which has no confirmed cases of the virus so far, has implemented a national quarantine and barred foreigners from entering the country.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories .
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Countries that are on lockdown because of coronavirus
REUTERS/Antonio Parrinello
China implemented the largest quarantine in human history to try to contain the novel coronavirus, locking down at least 16 cities at the end of January. An analysis by CNN in mid-February found that almost half of China's population — about 780 million people — was under some kind of travel restriction.
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Countries around the world are implementing measures to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus, from national quarantines to closing schools.
After a surge in COVID-19 cases in Italy, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte of Italy put the entire country on lockdown, restricting travel, leisure, work, churchgoing, and other aspects of life for its 60 million citizens.
Italy has the highest coronavirus death toll in the world outside China: At least 15,000 people have been infected and more than 1,000 have died there, according to The New York Times.
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Italy's lockdown may be the largest quarantine outside of China, where almost half of China's population about 780 million people were under some kind of travel restriction, according to a February 17 estimate by CNN.
El Salvador has imposed a national quarantine on its population of 6.4 million people and banned foreigners from entering the country despite having no confirmed cases of the virus so far.
The World Health Organization (WHO), which officially declared the outbreak a pandemic this week, has called on "all countries to continue efforts that have been effective in limiting the number of cases and slowing the spread of the virus."
While "lockdown" isn't a technical term used by public health officials , it can refer to anything from mandatory geographic quarantines to non-mandatory recommendations to stay at home and closures of certain types of businesses or bans on events and gatherings, Lindsay Wiley, a health law professor at the Washington College of Law, told Vox.
Here are the countries that have implemented mandatory mass quarantines so far.
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See Also:
- 'Chaos' at reception, stolen hand sanitizer, and deserted beaches: What life was like during the 5-day coronavirus lockdown at a luxury Maldives resort
- Giorgio Armani donated $1.4 million towards fighting coronavirus and he's one of many in luxury fashion rallying to help combat the global pandemic
- Meet the Ohio family that invented Purell, the world's best-selling hand sanitizer flying off shelves amid the coronavirus pandemic
SEE ALSO: Coronavirus live updates: More than 111,000 people have been infected and nearly 3,900 have died. The US has reported 22 deaths. Here's everything we know.
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