CORONAVIRUS: Italy bans internal travel as Uganda hunts for passengers who skipped screening

Concerned authorities in Italy have moved to stop all travel within the country, in a further escalation of its attempt to curb the spread of the deadly coronavirus also known as COVID-19.

The new policy was announced on Sunday as the death toll of patients that have died of the virus reached 5,476; and other countries step up controls on movement and daily life.

In the United Kingdom, the government said in a statement, that researchers will collect data from samples from COVID-19 infected patients in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

Scientists will then map out and analyse the full genetic codes of the COVID-19 samples.

READ ALSO: CORONAVIRUS: Italy’s death toll now 735 as Algeria suspends protests for the first time over COVID-19 fears

“Genomic sequencing will help us understand COVID-19 and its spread. It can also help guide treatments in the future and see the impact of interventions,” Patrick Vallance, the government’s chief scientific adviser, said in the statement.

Meanwhile, authorities in Uganda are trying to track down 84 passengers who were on an Ethiopian Airlines flight with a man who tested positive for coronavirus.

They have called on the travelers to come forward for screening.

A government official told the BBC it was assumed all the passengers on Ethiopian Airlines flight ET338 into Uganda had been separated and quarantined with efforts currently underway to trace them.

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