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Italy had their first two cases of Covid-19 on January 30, 2020.

The two cases were in Rome, and both were tourists from China.

Despite declaring a state of emergency and banning all flights to and from China, doctors were optimistic that they had cut off the spread of the virus in Italy.

A doctor from the hospital that the tourists were treated in said on a radio program that they were "almost certain" that there were no infections.

And for a long while, his words appeared to ring true.

Even when a third case was confirmed, it was an evacuee from Wuhan on February 7.

Then on February 21, nearly one month after the first two confirmed cases were announced, and the doctor had expressed optimism that the virus had been contained, a man in the Lombardy region, about 600km away from Rome, was confirmed to be infected with the virus.

The 38-year-old man had reportedly been in regular contact with someone who had been to China.

A few of those initially affected included the man's wife, as well as some patients in a hospital that the man visited.

By the end of the day, Italy had 17 confirmed cases, with 14 in just one day.

Over the next two days, there would be a total of 138 new cases and two deaths.

The two main clusters were in Veneto and Lombardy. A dozen towns in these two regions have been placed under quarantine.

Three Serie A games were cancelled.

The world-famous Venice Carnival has been cancelled as well.

But even with all these measures, there remains a glaring hole in knowledge that might hinder further attempts at restricting the outbreak.

Patient zero

As of this article, patient zero still has not been found.

Here is Angelo Borrelli, head of Italy's Civil Protection Agency, explaining why that is a problem.

"We still cannot identify patient zero, so it's difficult to forecast possible new cases,"

The outbreak in Italy has spooked Europe as a whole as well, with a train from Italy being temporarily stopped at Austria.

BREAKING: Austria has stopped a train coming from Italy at its border as two travellers are suspected of being infected with #Covid19.

Italy now has the worst #Coronavirus outbreak in Europe and has imposed quarantine restrictions.

Read more here: https://t.co/EThnAn7mSP pic.twitter.com/IzmhFVzw0U

— Sky News (@SkyNews) February 23, 2020

As of this article there has been a third death, an elderly cancer patient.

Photo by Andrea Diodato/NurPhoto via Getty Images