UPDATE 1-Mauritius blocks some Italian visitors over coronavirus concerns -Alitalia

An Alitalia plane landed in Mauritius on Monday but some of the passengers and crew opted to return straight home after being told they would have to go into quarantine because of local concerns over the coronavirus, the airline said.

Some 224 passengers and crew had been aboard the flight from Rome to the Indian Ocean island, but 40 people from the northern regions of Lombardy and Veneto decided to head home because of the quarantine threat, Alitalia said. Alitalia added that the decisions by the Mauritian authorities had not been disclosed to the carrier before landing and that it had alerted authorities in order to clarify the reasons why its passengers' movements had been restricted.

A flight was being organized back to Italy "although nobody declared symptoms of illness", the Alitalia statement said. The people on board the plane were allowed to disembark the aircraft over more than an hour after their landing and faced rigorous screening, Mauritian daily L'Express reported.

Italy is fighting to contain the biggest outbreak of coronavirus in Europe, which is centered in Lombardy and Veneto, with more than 200 cases confirmed since Friday and five people dying from the illness. Tunisia may suspend some flights to Italy to reduce its exposure to the coronavirus, Transport Minister Rene Trabelsi said on a local radio station on Monday.

On Sunday, a train carrying about 300 passengers from Venice, Italy, to Munich in Germany was halted on the Italian side of the Brenner Pass before being allowed to continue its journey after two travelers tested negative for the virus.