Italy earmarks €25 billion for fighting coronavirus

Italy will ramp up spending to help the economy cope with the impact of the coronavirus, earmarking 25 billion euros ($28.3 billion) to tackle the growing crisis, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Wednesday.

"We have allocated emergency resources amounting to 25 billion euros," Conte told reporters after a meeting on the government response to the health crisis.

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Last week the cabinet said it would need just 7.5 billion euros, but since then the emergency has escalated dramatically and the entire nation is under lockdown, freezing much economic activity in a nation that was already flirting with recession.

Conte warned that already tough restrictions on movement might be tightened further after the northern region of Lombardy asked for all shops to shut and public transport to close.