The country’s 60 million citizens and visitors are now barred from leaving the country, unless for work, medical reasons or emergencies until April 3, as Conte described it as Italy’s “darkest hour”.
“All the measure of the red zones are now extended to all of the national territory,” Conte said at a press conference on Monday evening, also announcing a ban on all public events and religious ceremonies.
The measures had initially been imposed in certain regions in the north like Lombardy, which is the epicentre of the outbreak, while the government had already moved to close schools and universities across the country as well as cinemas, theatres and gyms.
But on Monday evening, after it was announced the death toll had risen by 97 to 463, Conte said the measures would be imposed nationwide.
The decree will come into force on Tuesday morning local time.
Italy has 9172 cases so far, making it the most affected country in Europe.
Conte said the new measures were necessary to protect the country’s most vulnerable.
All schools and universities, which were closed nationwide last week until 15 March, will now not reopen before next month.
Meanwhile, all sporting events will be suspended including Italy’s Serie A football league until April 4.
Travel in and out of the country as well as movement between cities will also be restricted.
But it was not immediately clear how the new measures will be imposed.
Trains and numerous flights continued to operate into and out of Milan on Monday despite the earlier set of restrictions imposed in Lombardy.
Italy has now recorded more than half of all the deaths reported outside China since the crisis first began to unfold in December 2019.
While all 20 of Italy’s regions have now confirmed cases of coronavirus, the large majority of active cases are concentrated in Lombardy (4490) and Emilia Romagna (1286).
Lombardy now has 4490 active cases of coronavirus.
So far 646 people in the region have recovered, while 333 have died (66 in the past 24 hours).
More deaths were also reported in Emilia Romagna (+14), Veneto (+2), Piedmont (+8), Marche (+3), Lazio (+2), Liguria (+1) and Tuscany, which has now seen its first and so far only death from the coronavirus.
The majority of fatalities in Italy have been people aged over 70, while some had pre-existing health conditions.
More than 2900 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in Italy have only mild symptoms and are in self-isolation at home, while some 4300 are receiving treatment in hospital.
Another 700 are currently in intensive care.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 80 per cent of people who contract the new coronavirus recover without needing special treatment.
Around one out of every six people infected becomes seriously ill, while some 3.4 per cent of cases are fatal.
