Italians who dare to breach the COVID-19 lockdown in the virus-stricken country are being warned that if they do so, they could face 21 years in prison.

Those who refuse to self-isolate and instead breach the nationwide lockdown already face fines in the hundreds of euros just for doing so. But according to earlier reports in Metro and other outlets, citizens showing virus symptoms, but who refuse to lock themselves away from their neighbours, could face much more serious charges.

Under existing Italian law, Metro reports, those who display symptoms but then refuse to self-isolate could be charged with causing injury — a charge that carries a sentence of six to 36 months in jail.

On the more severe end of the sentencing, those who display symptoms and refuse to self-isolate, and who then end up needlessly passing on the virus to an elderly or vulnerable person who then dies, could be charged with “intentional murder” — punishable by a 21-year sentence.

“If I am infected, I know I am, and I look for contact with other people regardless of the possibility of transmitting the infection, then the crime of injury occurs,” Franco Coppi, a lawyer, told Italy’s Corriere della Serra, according to the Daily Mail.

The Daily Mail has reported earlier this month that there is precedent to such cases, too: A man was jailed in Rome for 24 years in 2017 after being charged because he deliberately spread HIV.

So far, Italy has lost 3,405 people to the virus.

The crisis has grown so bad in recent days, that reports are emerging of Italians being left locked inside their own homes with their dead loved ones — because funeral homes are refusing to take dead virus patients.

Responding to the spread of the disease in Europe’s worst affected country, the Italian government has banned all non-essential travel and public gatherings until April 3 and closed schools and universities nationwide.

“The right decision is to stay at home,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said when he imposed the lockdown on Monday.

Most Italians are following his advice, with streets and squares deserted up and down the country of 60 million people.

Daily output in the euro zone’s third largest economy is some 15 per cent below its normal levels, according to economist Lorenzo Codogno. Economy Minister Roberto Gualtieri warned on Wednesday of a “significant fall” in gross domestic product this year.