Italy blasts virus panic as it eyes newtesting criteria27 February 2020, by Frances D'emilio and Nicole Winfield

Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio holds up a map ofItaly showing the municipalities in regions of Lombardyand Veneto where it is not possible to travel, during apress conference at the foreign press association, inRome, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. The government isseeking to calm fears about the outbreak, which hasseen countries issue travel advisories warning theircitizens to avoid visiting hard-hit Lombardy and Venetoregions, which have seen the most cases. (APPhoto/Alessandra Tarantino)

With tourism tanking and panic rising, Italy tried tocontrol the coronavirus in the realm of publicperception Thursday as its outbreak grew to 650cases and other countries took measures to limittravel to and from affected Italian regions.

Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio and Health MinisterRoberto Speranza appeared before foreignjournalists in Rome to blame overblown mediacoverage for travel advisories warning visitors tostay away, event cancellations and special borderscreenings for people coming from hard-hitnorthern Italy.

"In Italy, we've gone from an epidemic risk to an'info-demic' of confirmed disinformation, which atthis moment is hitting our flow of tourists, our

business and our whole economic system," Di Maiosaid.

While the ministers sought to put Italy's explosiveexperience with the virus into perspective, thenational caseload kept climbing Civil protectionchief Angelo Borrelli reported a new total of 650, upfrom 400 on Wednesday evening and three a weekago, before clusters of infections emerged in theLombardy and Veneto regions..

Three more people with the virus died in 24 hours,bringing Italy's toll to 15, Borrelli said. Officials havesaid all of the patients were elderly, sick with otherailments or both.

In neighboring France, authorities on Thursdayreported twenty new cases of people infected withthe new virus in the past 24 hours, bringing the totalin the country to 38, including two deaths. Twelveof the new patients, including three working on amilitary base, are all connected to two previouscases in the Oise region, north of Paris.

French President Emmanuel Macron, left, puts his armaround the shoulder of Italian Premier Giuseppe Conteand gives him a kiss on both cheeks during a joint pressconference on the occasion of the first French-Italiansummit in more than two years, in Naples, southern Italy,

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Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

As more countries reported new cases that couldbe linked to Italy, several adopted measuresintended to keep people who might be infected out.Israel is now denying entry to all non-Israelis whovisited Italy in the last two weeks, and Israeli airlineEl Al suspended all flights to and from Italy untilMarch 14.

Public health officials have said that Italycontributed to fears of an epidemic in Europe withits zealousness in testing for the virus and quicklyreporting the number that came back positive fromlocal regions.

A World Health Organization official advising theItalian government, Walter Ricciardi, said testresults must be certified at the national level beforethey are considered official and publicly reported.Without confirmation from Italy's National Institutesof Health, "cases that emerge from the regions arestill considered suspect and unconfirmed," Ricciardisaid.

A couple wearing face masks, stroll outside St. Peter'sSquare, at the Vatican, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. InEurope, an expanding cluster in northern Italy is eyed asa source for transmissions of the COVID-19 disease (APPhoto/Gregorio Borgia)

It remains to be seen whether or how the higher-level review of positive tests changes Italy's casenumbers. So far, none of the 282 cases analyzedby the national health institute were rejected asfalse positives, and Italian authorities said theysuspect that almost all of the preliminary results willbe confirmed, too.

Italian health officials are making another change intheir testing protocols that may slow the growth ofnew case numbers. The country expects to limit coronavirus testing to at-risk people showingsymptoms of COVID-19, said Giuseppe Ippolito,scientific director at Italy's National Institute forInfectious Diseases.

Previously, Italy was testing anyone who visitedcertain towns in northern Italy or came into contactwith someone infected with the virus but notnecessarily showing symptoms.

Bulgarian soccer team Ludogorets coach Pavel Vrbawears a protective face masks as he sits in the coachbus heading to the San Siro stadium, in Milan, Italy,Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. Ludogorets is playing Italianclub Inter Milan in a Europa League soccer match onThursday that is scheduled to go ahead in an emptystadium due to the coronavirus outbreak. (AP Photo/LucaBruno)

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A paramedic wearing a mask gets out of a tent set up bythe Italian Civil Protection outside the emergency ward ofthe Piacenza hospital, northern Italy, Thursday, Feb. 27,2020. Italy is changing how it reports coronavirus casesand who will get tested in ways that could lower thecountry's caseload even as an outbreak centered innorthern Italy spreads in Europe. (ClaudioFurlan/Lapresse via AP)

From left Italian Foreign Minister Luigi di Maio, Italy'sMinister of Health Roberto Speranza, and SpallanzaniHospital Scientist Director Giuseppe Ippolito, arrive for apress conference at the foreign press association inRome, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. The government isseeking to calm fears about the outbreak, which hasseen countries issue travel advisories warning theircitizens to avoid visiting hard-hit Lombardy and Venetoregions, which have seen the most cases. (APPhoto/Alessandra Tarantino)

Bulgarian soccer team Ludogorets wearing protectiveface masks sit on a coach bus heading to the San Sirostadium, in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020.Ludogorets is playing Italian club Inter Milan in a EuropaLeague soccer match on Thursday that is scheduled togo ahead in an empty stadium due to the coronavirusoutbreak. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

A woman wearing a protective mask stands at the PortaNuova business district in Milan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 27,2020. In Europe, an expanding cluster in northern Italy iseyed as a source for transmissions of the COVID-19disease. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

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Nuns talks to paramedics at a tent set up by the ItalianCivil Protection next to the emergency ward of thePiacenza hospital, northern Italy, Thursday, Feb. 27,2020. Italy is changing how it reports coronavirus casesand who will get tested in ways that could lower thecountry's caseload even as an outbreak centered innorthern Italy spreads in Europe. (ClaudioFurlan/Lapresse via AP)

Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte and French PresidentEmmanuel Macron pose for a photo with the backdrop ofMt. Vesuvius on the occasion of the first French-Italiansummit in more than two years, in Naples, southern Italy,Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)

A tourist twirls around as she steps on a tiled floormosaic depicting a bull, symbol of the city of Turin thatwas the first capital of the Kingdom of Italy, inside thefour-story double arcade Galleria Vittorio Emanuele II,completed in 1867 and named after Italy's first king, inMilan, Italy, Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. According to an oldlegend this will bring good luck and allow to return in thecity. In Europe, an expanding cluster in northern Italy iseyed as a source for transmissions of the COVID-19disease. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Tourists, wearing face masks, pose for a selfie in front ofa Versace shop window in downtown Milan, Italy,Thursday, Feb. 27, 2020. In Europe, an expandingcluster in northern Italy is eyed as a source fortransmissions. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno)

Ippolito said the shift corresponds with updatedrecommendations from the European Centre for

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Disease Prevention and Control,.

Premier Giuseppe Conte, who has been trying tomanage the outbreak, took a break himself to go toNaples for a summit Thursday with FrenchPresident Emmanuel Macron. The meeting servedthe purpose of displaying normalcy as the twoleaders strolled through Naples and stopped at acafe to sip espresso and enjoy a local sweetgushing with syrupy rum inside known as a "baba."

Macron expressed his solidarity with Italy. "Thisvirus concerns us all," he said.

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