American Airlines and Ryanair have become the latest airlines to temporarily cut flights to northern Italy after a drop in demand over the spread of coronavirus in the region.

The American Airlines?cancellations affect daily flights between Milan Malpensa and the airline¡¯s hubs in New York JFK and Miami until 25 April, with affected customers being contacted directly.

Meanwhile, Ryanair is reducing its short-haul programme, mostly to and from Italy, by 25 per cent between 17 March and 8 April in response to falling demand across its network. The Irish carrier said it expects the cancellations to have a "material impact" on its 2020 numbers.

British Airways has also announced a further 200 flight cancellations between 16 and 28 March affecting routes such as New York, Italy, France, Germany and other European countries.

The news comes after several countries warned travellers returning from northern Italy to self-isolate over a growing number of cases of the deadly coronavirus across the region.?

Officials in Italy have implemented lock-down procedures in several towns across the country¡¯s northern regions, with travel restrictions in place and limited numbers of people allowed in or out of the towns.

Meanwhile, worldwide health officials are warning against travel to Iran, which has the highest number of deaths from Covid-19 outside of China. The UK government has also advised against all travel to the South Korean city of Daegu after an outbreak of the virus was identified among members of a religious sect.

Several large-scale international events have been cancelled in the coming weeks, including the world¡¯s biggest travel trade show ITB Berlin and the Grand Prix of Qatar.?