• Mortgage payments will be suspended across Italy as the country struggles to deal with the coronavirus outbreak.
  • Italy’s coronavirus death toll jumped to 463 from 366 on Monday, making it the worst-hit country after China.
  • The Italian government has placed the population under lockdown.
  • The British bank RBS also said on Monday that it would defer mortgage and loan repayments for up to three months for customers affected by the coronavirus outbreak.
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Mortgage payments will be suspended across Italy as the Italian government places the population on lockdown because of the coronavirus outbreak.

Asked about the possibility of mortgage payments being temporarily frozen, the country’s deputy finance minister, Laura Castelli, said on Tuesday, “Yes, that will be the case, for individuals and households.”

The British bank RBS also said it would defer mortgage and loan repayments for up to three months for customers affected by the coronavirus outbreak.

The Italian government has placed Italy’s more than 60 million people under lockdown, extending emergency measures initially imposed only on northern regions as it struggled to stop the coronavirus from spreading.

In a press conference on Monday, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told people to "stay at home" and banned public gatherings.

"There is no more time. I will take responsibility for these measures. Our future is in our hands," he said, according to The Guardian.

Italy is grappling with the worst coronavirus outbreak outside of China; its death toll jumped to 463 people on Monday from 366. The total number of confirmed cases rose by 24%, to 9,172, with 724 people having fully recovered, the head of the civil protection agency said, according to The Guardian.

"The figures show we are experiencing a serious increase in infections, an increase in people hospitalized in intensive care - and an increase, unfortunately, in deaths," Conte said on Monday. "We need to change our lifestyle. We need to change it now. That's why I have decided to adopt these hard measures."

He added: "I am going to sign a decree that can be summarized as follows: I stay at home. The whole of Italy will become a protected zone."

All public events, including sporting matches, funerals, and weddings, will be banned in Italy, with theaters, gyms, pubs, schools, and universities closed, according to The Guardian.