Coronavirus: Inter Milan cancel all competitive activities after Juventus’ Rugani contracts COVID-19

Inter Milan's Belgian forward Romelu Lukaku (L) celebrates with Inter Milan's Italian midfielder Nicolo Barella after scoring during the Italian Serie A football match AC Milan vs Inter Milan on September 21, 2019 at the San Siro stadium in Milan. [Photo by Marco Bertorello / AFP]

Italy’s Serie A side Inter Milan have suspended all competitive activities hours after it was confirmed Juventus’ centre back Daniele Rugani tested positive for coronavirus.

Juve confirmed on Wednesday that Rugani had contracted the COVID-19 virus, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan in December last year.

The defender was an unused substitute on Sunday, as Juve saw off Antonio Conte's Inter 2-0 in a top-of-the-table clash played behind closed doors.

The announcement comes a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) labelled Covid-19 a pandemic.

According to official announcements, more than 126,000 people have been infected worldwide and more than 4,600 have succumbed.

Rugani has contracted the COVID-19 virus. [Courtesy]

Italy, the worst-hit after China, has responded swiftly and placed the country on lockdown.

The government has now suspended all domestic sport until April 3.

All football matches in Spain's top division, La Liga, were also suspended on Thursday for two weeks over fears of the spread of the coronavirus.

The decision followed after Real Madrid had quarantined its entire squad.

Other leagues across Europe except for the English Premier League in England have been forced to take precautionary measures with French Ligue 1 announcing that all matches will be played in empty stadiums until April.

Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) enforced the same measure with the knock out matches in the competition having to be played without fans.