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CHICAGO — Streets and usually tourist-heavy Italian landmarks now sit empty after the country went on lockdown amid the COVID-19 outbreak.

Italy imposed a nationwide lockdown earlier this week, with stores and restaurants closed and restrictions on individual movement. The country’s COVID-19 related death toll has reached 1,266.

Italian civil protection authorities say the number of coronavirus infections has soared by more than 2,500 in the last 24 hours while virus-related deaths make largest single-day jump of 250.

That brings the total number of infected in Italy to 17,660 since the outbreak began on Feb. 21.

Italy is the epicenter of the virus outbreak in Europe. But their restrictions still pale in comparison to the severe lockdown China imposed in Wuhan.