The coronavirus death toll in Italy’s worst-hit region has surpassed 3,450 in the last 24 hours after a rise of 360 fatalities in Lombardy.

Ministers in Rome have been forced to plunge all 60million citizens into lockdown, while ordering all non-essential businesses in the country to shut amid the Covid-19 outbreak.

The pandemic has taken a choke-hold on everyday life, with even Pope Francis retreating indoors to make his weekly address via videolink.