On 9 March the Italian government imposed a national quarantine restricting the movement of the entire population of the country. Italy had reported its first two Covid-19 cases on 30 January and its third case on 7 February. Two weeks later the first lockdowns began in Lodi, Lombardy, affecting some 50,000 people. On 8 March the quarantine zone was expanded to cover much of northern Italy, affecting some 16 million people. By then there were already 5,800 recorded cases and 233 dead