Serie A: Juventus vs Inter clash doubtful over coronavirus fears

Italian prime minister Giuseppe Conte said that all the Serie A Week 26 fixtures might get postponed because of coronavirus fears. The fixtures include the heavyweight showdown between Juventus and Inter Milan.

The recent outbreak of coronavirus in Italy has forced four top league matches to be postponed during the weekend that included Sunday's encounter between Inter and Sampdoria. The other games to have been cancelled are Atalanta vs Sassuolo, Torino vs Parma, and Verona vs Cagliari.

These matches will be rescheduled during any available midweek slots. However, for Atalanta and Inter, who are participating in the UEFA Champions League, this might pose some problems.

Italy's move came as a part of the preventive measures against the spread of the coronavirus, which has been officially named as COVID-19. The disease originated in China and later, two people died in Italy with dozens more reported to have tested positive.

There have been a total of 152 reported cases in he country and restrictions have been put into place around the Lombardy and Veneto regions near Milan and Venice. Numerous lives have been affected by the recent outbreak, as around 50,000 people are stuck at the same place for at least two weeks now.

As of now, the upcoming fixtures in Italy's league are doubtful. Serie A leaders Juve are originally scheduled to host Inter in Turin on March 1.

Conte said, "I don't think that in just one week we'd be able to slow down the contagion so much that we could resume sporting events. We are constantly monitoring the situation and will evaluate it. We'll see the evolution of the contagion and evaluate postponing all next week's matches."

Juve is one point clear of Lazio at the top of the table after they secured a 2-1 away victory against bottom side SPAL. In that game, Portuguese superstar Cristiano Ronaldo marked his 1,000th career appearance and scored a goal. That helped him match a previous record by Gabriel Batistuta and Fabio Quagliarella, of scoring in the 11th consecutive top-flight match.

In-form Lazio edged past Genoa 3-2 to extend their unbeaten streak to 20 games. On the other hand, third placed Inter is six points behind Juve with a game in hand. Juve has 60 points in 25 matches, with 19 wins to their name.