International students have had to cancel their trip to Norwich as a precaution following an outbreak of coronavirus in Italy.

The International Colleagues School of English (ICS), in Pottergate, has contacted around 30 host families to tell them that students will no longer be coming to stay following a lock down in the north of the country.

The Italian government and school body MIUR has suspended all trips in the Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia Romangna regions in and out of Italy for the time being.

The group of 30 were due to arrive on February 29 and stay in the city until March 7.

Maria Teresa, admin director for the school, said: "Some of the villages are in the red zone and are near the school that was supposed to come over."

The students would have attended classes and enjoyed excursions around the city including a visit to the Cathedral.

The school thanked the host families for their support.