Austria halts trains in Italian Alps on coronavirus fears

Austria’s state railroad temporarily halted train traffic from Italy across a key Alpine pass on Sunday in response to a rash of coronavirus cases in its southern neighbor.

A train from Venice to Munich was held on the Italian side of the Brenner Pass after Austrian authorities received information that two people aboard had flu-like symptoms, Robert Lechner, a spokesman for Austrian state rail company OeBB, said by phone. Two later trains from Italy were halted at the same location.

Austrian Federal Railways later said traffic will be back to normal by Monday morning.

Lechner denied an earlier report by Austrian news portal Oe24 that all trains between Austria and Italy had been halted.