(6 Mar 2020) The Vatican confirmed the walled city-state's first case of the new coronavirus on Friday and closed some offices as a precaution while Pope Francis continues recovering from a cold.
A health clinic inside Vatican City was closed for sanitising following the positive test result received on Thursday, according to a Vatican spokesman, who added that Vatican employees and their families were eligible for health care at the clinic.
Tourists visiting Vatican City took the news in their stride, many of them already using face masks and hand sanitisers as Italy continues to battle the virus outbreak.
Church doors have been closed for mass in the northern Veneto and Lombardy regions, as part of measures to prevent further contagion, and on Thursday the Italian bishops' conference recommended weekday masses be cancelled nationwide.
The Pope, meanwhile, continues to recover from a cold. The Vatican said that he had no other abnormalities.
The 83-year-old pope, who lost part of one lung to a respiratory illness when he was a young man, did cancel his participation at a week-long spiritual retreat in the Roman countryside.
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