The Australian government has announced a travel ban on people coming from Italy due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed during a press conference the ban will come into effect from 6pm tonight (Tuesday 10 March).
Foreign nationals who have been in the European country will have to wait 14 days before they try to visit Australia.
"Italy itself has effectively put itself into lockdown with travel now, and this largely closes that loop," Scott Morrison told reporters in Canberra.
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"We already had the enhanced screening measures that are in place.
"This, of course, will mean that any Australians, residents or others, who are obviously exempt from those travel bans, would be subject to the same isolation period that applies to the other countries for which there are travel bans."
Aussies who visit and come home will just have to self-isolate at home for the same two-week period.
Other countries to also face a travel ban from Australia include China, South Korea and Iran.
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The Italian Prime Minister placed the country on lockdown yesterday in a bid to stem the outbreak of Covid-19.
Citizens will only be able to travel for work and family emergencies.
All sporting matches and large gatherings have been suspended until further notice, and restaurants and cafes have also been told they must close at dusk.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said the measures were being put in place to protect the most vulnerable members of society.
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Mr Conte added: "Restrictions will include banning all public gatherings. There won't be just a red zone. We can't allow this anymore."
Previously, a ban had been placed on people in the north of the country after the Lombardy region and 14 other provinces experienced a particularly bad outbreak.
The region's top health official Giulio Gallera said 10 percent of the doctors and nurses there can't help those infected as they have tested positive themselves.
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The elderly have been the hardest hit age group, with three quarters of the death toll being people aged between 70 and 89, and a further 13 percent aged over 90 years old. The remaining peoplr to have died from the virus were people in their 50s and 60s.
The country has the highest death toll from Covid-19 outside of China, with 631 people dead. A whopping 168 people died in a single day.
More than 10,000 people have been infected across the country and Mr Conte says he's doing everything he can to stop Covid-19 from spreading further.
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