BREAKING: Italian Serie-A Matches Postponed Over Fear of Coronavirus

Five Italian Serie-A weekend matches including Sunday’s clash between Juventus and Inter Milan have been postponed due to the novel Coronavirus, the Italian football league said Saturday.

Other matches called off were AC Milan v Genoa, Parma v SPAL, Sassuolo v Brescia and Udinese v Fiorentina, the league said in a statement on Saturday.

The matches had been scheduled to be played behind closed doors.

Italy is the country hardest hit by the virus outbreak in Europe, with 650 cases and 17 deaths, mostly in cities in the north.

The PUNCH reports that three footballers tested positive for the novel virus recently including an Italian-Nigerian footballer, King Udoh.

Also, an Italian businessman was confirmed to have tested positive to the novel virus in Lagos on Friday, making it the first index case of Coronavirus in Nigeria and in West Africa.

The patient later attempts to escape the Lagos isolation centre.