Italy was poised Wednesday to impose a nationwide curfew and tougher measures for some populous regions as it faces a surge in coronavirus cases, AFP reports.

From Thursday, Italy's 60 million residents will be required to stay home from 10pm until 5am except for work or health reasons under a new decree signed by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.

In addition, the country's regions will be divided into zones — high risk, medium high and moderate — based on how quickly the virus is spreading and availability of hospital beds, among other factors.

In the handful of high-risk “red zones”, retail stores not selling essential goods such as food and pharmaceuticals are to shut, and people will be restricted from travelling outside their home town or city.

Travel between some regions is to be restricted as well.

Italy was the first European country hit by the novel coronavirus and has so far reported almost 760,000 cases, and more than 39,400 deaths.