OREANDA-NEWS. Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Mayo said the government is preparing special economic measures to support companies in connection with the consequences of the spread of coronavirus in the country. As he pointed out in an interview in an Italian newspaper published on Tuesday, the Council of Ministers will not only suspend the collection of taxes and utility bills from the population in areas where infections are recorded, but will also take measures to support companies.

"We are preparing a decree to support the entire economic system of Italy. Our priority is to preserve exports, which is one third of GDP", said Di Mayo. One of the most problematic sectors is tourism, which has already suffered from a decrease in the flow of tourists from China. Now the tourism industry is registering massive denials of travel to Italy from around the world. Thus, the number of refusals from reservations in Venice hotels reached 40%.

Di Mayo said that Italy will on a daily basis provide information on the situation with the coronavirus to all its embassies in the world. "We will inform all governments and provide assistance to Italians who are abroad on tourist trips", the minister said. He also pointed out that at the moment quarantine concerns two local foci of coronavirus distribution and affects "50 thousand people out of 60 million" of the Italian population.