The Italian government has announced that all sporting events in Italy will take place without fans present for at least the next month due to the virus outbreak.
That will likely see Italian soccer league resume in full this weekend after the calendar was pushed back a week.

Italy is the epicentre of Europe’s coronavirus outbreak. More than 100 people have died and more than 3,000 have been infected with the COVID-19 virus.

The Italian government issued a new decree on Wednesday evening, with measures it hopes will help contain the spread of the virus.

All sporting events throughout the country must take place behind closed doors until April 3. Schools and universities have been ordered to close until March 15.

That also calls into question Italy’s Six Nations rugby match against England in Rome on March 14. That match will either have to go ahead behind closed doors or be postponed.
Italy’s match against Ireland, which was scheduled for March 7, had already been postponed. The Italian soccer league’s governing body has yet to release a revised schedule but reports say the six Serie A soccer matches that were postponed last week will now be played this weekend. That includes one of the biggest matches of the season — the Juventus-Inter game, known as the “Derby d’Italia” or Italy’s derby.

And on the racing circuit…
The virus outbreak breeding illness and fear around the globe is causing Formula One teams serious concerns about their ability to travel to races with the season set to start in two weeks.

Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto said on Friday on the final day of preseason testing in Spain that the Italian outfit wants guarantees from F1 that its staff will not have trouble entering the host countries of the opening races in Australia and Bahrain.

Ferrari and F1 rival AlphaTauri, as well as F1 tire provider Pirelli, are all based in northern Italy, the epicentre of the Italian outbreak. Haas and Sauber also have some Ferrari employees on their teams because Ferrari provides engines for their cars.

“The situation is certainly concerning us, worrying us, especially back in Italy,” Binotto said. “We are in contact with FIA and F1. What we will need is assurance before leaving (for the Australian Grand Prix). We can’t discover what it is on arrival.”

The Australian GP is on March 15 in Melbourne. Ferrari is travelling to the inaugural race a week in advance.

F1 announced two weeks ago it postponed the Chinese GP, scheduled to take place on April 19, due to the virus that erupted in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.

But F1 chief executive Chase Carey says other races are still on.