By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

The US Department of State updated their travel advisory for Italy Saturday.

A Level 3: Reconsider Travel advisory is issued for the country as a whole advising people to reconsider travel to Italy due to the recent outbreak of COVID-19.

They also raised the advisory to Level 4: Do Not Travel for Lombardy and Veneto due to the level of community transmission of the virus and imposition of local quarantine procedures.

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There are 11 Italian towns in quarantine; most affected regions are Lombardy and Veneto (Northern Italy, Milan consular district).

The CDC has issued a Level 3 Travel Health Notice for Italy.  At this time, CDC recommends that travelers avoid all nonessential travel to Italy.

To date, Italy has reported 1,577 COVID-19 cases with 984 in Lombardy, 285 in Emilia-Romagna and 263 in Veneto.

34 deaths have been reported.