Italy's president Sergio Mattarella has called for "responsibility" in the face of the Coronavirus emergency, urging Italians to "follow carefully" the official guidelines regarding changes to lifestyle and daily habits. "Italy is going through a particularly challenging time and is facing it dutifully with full transparency and completeness of information", the president said in his televised address.

"We are a great modern country"- said Mattarella - "we have an excellent national health system, which is operating with the effectiveness and extraordinary self-sacrifice of its staff." Urging Italians to "absolutely avoid unmotivated and often counterproductive states of anxiety", the president said that Italy would "overcome" the crisis. Mattarella concluded his address by saying: "We must, and can, have confidence in Italy."