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The mayor of Italy's worst-hit coronavirus town has said he is bringing his daughters home from the UK because he believes they will be safer.

Giorgio Gori, mayor of Bergamo in Italy's north, said he made the decision to bring his daughters home from school in Taunton and Canterbury after concluding that the UK government is not taking the threat of coronavirus seriously enough.

Italy put in place a stringent nationwide lockdown two weeks ago with all shops except supermarkets and pharmacies closed and people banned from the streets except to go to work, to seek medical help, or for other emergencies.

The UK, which has seen 281 deaths from the virus putting it almost exactly where Italy was a fortnight ago, has so-far shrugged off calls for tougher measures.