Italy foreign ministry blasts CNN for virus map

Italy's foreign minister accused CNN on Thursday of "distorting reality" by appearing to suggest in a map that much of the world was catching the new coronavirus from his Mediterranean country.

Luigi Di Maio posted a screen grab from the US television news network with the offending image on his Facebook page.

The map showed more than a dozen red arrows shooting from Italy to other parts of the world.

"Coronavirus cases linked to Italy," the accompanying caption said.

Di Maio said the map made it looks like "Italy seems to the origin of the outbreak".

"This is a distorted view of the reality," he wrote.

"But the point in not CNN, this is just one example, because there are also (other) international media painting Italy in the wrong way." CNN issued no immediate comment.

The Atlanta-based network occasionally comes under fire from world leaders at times of crisis.

It notably was accused of bias by both Russia and Ukraine during its coverage of Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014.

Italy has borne the brunt in Europe of a virus that was first detected in central China's Wuhan province at the end of last year before spreading to the rest of the world.

More than 3,000 people have been infected and 107 have died in Italy from COVID-19 -- the most in Europe by far.

Italy was also the source of some of the first cases of infections in other countries.

But the perception of Italy as an unsafe place has had a profound effect on its economically important tourism industry in the past few weeks.

Long lines to enter the Vatican have vanished in Rome while the usually packed squares of cities such as Venice and Milan have stood deserted for days.

Di Maio said he suspected CNN had an ulterior motive that he did not name. "I wonder what their intent was," he wrote.