The evacuation of 19 people to Italy and 32 people to the United Kingdom from the Diamond Princess cruise liner in Japan was marked by tension as Europe deals with an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases. The death of two people from the virus in Italy has caused around a dozen towns to shut down, according to news agency AFP. 

A 77-year-old woman in Codogno, a region in Lombardy, died on 21 February only a day after a 78-year-old man died from the novel coronavirus in the neighboring region of Veneto. Friday's death was the first time a European country has confirmed the death of one of its own citizens, that hadn't been to China recently, since the outbreak started.

In Italy, the panic around the virus was also caused by an increase in the number of cases, 39 in Lombardy and 12 in Veneto. These numbers mean that confirmed cases in both regions quadrupled almost overnight. 

The source of these new cases was a 38-year-old Italian who had been in contact with someone who had returned from China on 21 January. The person in question said the carrier did not have any visible symptoms.

On a national level, the country is preparing areas to quarantine people diagnosed with COVID-19 after Giuseppe Conte, the Prime Minister of Italy, called an emergency to deal with the outbreak.

More than half a million people have been asked to stay indoors in an attempt to stop the spread of the virus. Julio Gallera, Lombardy's Councillor, said: "We have decided at this moment to invite the residents of the municipalities of Codogno, Castiglione D'adda and Casalpusterlengo, to stay at home."

Morris Pati, a resident of Codogno, told CGTN Europe: "There is a high-level panic, after we found this infection case. Wearing a mask is right, but there is too much panic.

"Closing everything. Now people who are working will suffer even more difficulties."

The 32 people who flew to the UK to be quarantined were accompanied by medical and government staff, according to the UK's foreign secretary. They landed in Boscombe Down military base and will be quarantined for two weeks.

Both the people evacuated to Italy and the UK had been quarantined on the cruise ship since 5th February after a passenger contracted the virus. There were 78 UK citizens on the ship at the time, some are still onboard while others were allowed to return home after being cleared.

Other countries, such as the United States, will make similar evacuations, with 300 Americans expected to return home on Monday. Both the United Kingdom and Japan has been criticized for how they dealt with the outbreak on the cruise ship.

Since the ship docked in Japan, dozens of new cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the country daily. The British passengers on the boat also stated that they thought the UK did not evacuate them fast enough.