The Italian sports minister has said that all Serie A football matches are likely to be played behind closed doors for the next month due to the coronavirus, raising serious doubts about the prospect of next weekend’s Six Nations clash between Italy and England going ahead as planned.

Sports minister Vincenzo Spadafora said on Wednesday that the government is likely to issue the ban on supporters attending matches in an effort to prevent the spread of coronavirus, with a number of matches already affected over the last two weeks.

"We are heading towards that decision," Spadafora told reporters when asked if the government was thinking of blocking fans from attending games.

“We will continue all activities, and so will the league, but we will respect public health.”

Ten Serie A games have already been postponed in the northern regions of Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia-Romagna, although coronavirus has been detected in all but one of the country’s 19 regions.

Should the decision be confirmed by the government, sporting events in Italy are set to be severely disrupted, with Rome’s Stadio Olimpico also due to host the Azzurri’s final Six Nations rugby match against England on 14 March. Around 20,000 fans are expected to travel to Italy to follow Eddie Jones’s side, but though the latest update from the Six Nations is that the game is expected to go ahead, it is looking increasingly likely that it will be played without fans or postponed altogether.

The move follows Serie A’s decision to postpone both Coppa Italia semi-finals this week, adding to the widespread disruption caused in the league.

Napoli and Inter Milan, which was scheduled for Thursday evening, became the latest fixture to be postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak, following an earlier decision to suspend the other semi-final second leg between Juventus and AC Milan.

A Serie A statement said: "The president of the Serie A League, having taken note of the order of the Prefect of Naples of 4 March 2020 n. 0069870 which orders the postponement to a later date of the semi-final return match of the Coppa Italia Napoli-Inter scheduled on March 5 at 20.45, announces that the aforementioned is postponed until a later date.

Italy has been the worst affected country in Europe by the outbreak, with 79 deaths and more than 2,500 cases.

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