The WHO Rapid Response Team (RRT) has recommended maintaining a strong focus on containment measures across the country, combined with a combination of strategies in areas with wider virus transmission to prevent disease and protect lives. This is one of the team’s conclusions at the end of its 12-day mission to Italy on 6 March. This team of experts from WHO and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) was deployed to Italy to strengthen understanding about the evolution of the disease and support the national response.