Sydney          -             Australia banned travel from Italy and opened a US$1.6 billion healthcare war chest Wednesday in a bid to slow the spread of coronavirus, as locally detected infections passed 100. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said the Aus$2.4 billion package would be used to bolster medical services likely to come under intense strain as the virus spreads in the coming months. Australia has recorded 116 cases of coronavirus and three fatalities, but only one case was locally transmitted and not directly linked to overseas travel. Hoping to slow the import of infections, Morrison announced a ban on travel from Italy starting at 6 pm local (0700 GMT Wednesday), and adding to existing bans on travel from China, Iran and South Korea. “The situation in Italy is now commensurate with the other countries where we previously had travel bans put in place, so we’ll be extending that travel ban to Italy,” he said. Rome has recorded at least 10,000 cases, and reported over 630 deaths.