The Libyan government decided on Sunday to suspend the entry of journalists coming from Italy due to the rapid outbreak of corona virus inside a number of Italian and European cities.
In a statement, Malik al-Sharif, head of the General Department of External Information at the Libyan Foreign Ministry, said that the decision is temporary, noting that it also comes within the country’s precautionary measures to prevent the outbreak of the deadly virus within its borders.
Al-Sharif pointed out that the decision to reject requests of some Italian media bodies to visit eastern and southern Libya, stems from the government’s national duty to maintain the safety of Libyan citizens.
Noteworthy that the number of cases of the new corona virus in Italy has exceeded 1,000, the health ministry said on Sunday, with the death toll rising by eight to 29 in the past 24 hours.
The number of cases has reached 1,128 since the start of the epidemic just over a week ago, up from 888 on Friday.
That number includes 50 people who had been infected but are now fully recovered.