A tourist wear a protective mask as she walks in front of the Trevi Fountain downtown Rome, on March 3, 2020. (Photo: AFP)

Rome (People's Daily) - The Italian government has decided to close all of Italy's schools and universities from Thursday until the middle of March because of the coronavirus, sources said Wednesday.

Schools are already closed in the northern regions worst hit by the emergency, Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna, as well as in Piedmont and Friuli Venezia Giulia and in the province of Savona, in Liguria, and Pesaro-Urbino, in Marche.