Inmates climb on Milan prison roof after anti-coronavirus measures trigger riots

Italy's government has imposed a virtual lockdown across much of its wealthy northern regions at the epicenter of the contagion, in an effort to contain a virus which as of Sunday (March 8) had killed 366 people.

Protests have broken out in prisons across the country and six inmates were killed after a riot broke out at a jail in the northern town of Modena, the head of Italy's prison administration said in an interview.

Limitations on direct contacts between inmates and their families will be valid until March 22, according to an emergency decree issued on Sunday.

Prisoners unfurled a banner reading "indulto", or "pardon", on the prison roof.