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Ryanair announced Monday another big cut in the number of flights to and from northern Italy in response to the Italian government's lockdown of the coronavirus hit region.

The budget airline also said it was drastically reducing its domestic flights within Italy "with " because of the worsening health situation there.

A Ryanair statement said that from midnight (0000 GMT) on Tuesday it would "suspend all Italian domestic flights to/from Bergamo, Malpensa, Parma, and Treviso".

The suspension would stay in place until April 8, said the airline.

In addition, from 0000 GMT on March 12, it would also "run a severely reduced schedule of international flights to/from Bergamo, Malpensa, Venice, Parma, Rimini and Treviso, which will only operate on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Monday".

Routes with several flights per day would be reduced to just one, added the statement.

The airline said service would continue however, in part to repatriate those already in northern Italy.

"Ryanair continues to comply fully with WHO and national government guidance and travel bans," the statement added.

"The situation is changing on a daily basis."

It apologised to passengers for the disruptions.

On March 2, Ryanair announced it was cutting up to a quarter of its short-haul flights, particularly to Italy because of fears over the coronavirus.

Italy is one of the countries worst hit by the virus—with 366 fatalities so far—and Rome has imposed draconian measures to stop it spreading further, including a month-long lockdown of hard-hit northern regions.