Italy's civil protection chief sees lockdown continuing beyond May 1

Italy's national lockdown to try to contain the spread of coronavirus will probably continue beyond the start of May, Angelo Borrelli, the head of the Civil Protection Agency, said on Friday. This week the government extended the lockdown -- which imposes severe restrictions on movement and shutters all services and firms not deemed essential Italy's supply chain -- until April 13.

In a radio interview with state broadcaster RAI, Borrelli was asked whether the measures would need to remain in place many more weeks. "Unfortunately they will," he replied. "I don't believe this situation ... will have passed by May 1, we have to be extremely rigorous."

Up to Thursday Italy had officially registered 13,915 deaths from the highly infections virus, considerably more than any other country in the world.