Italy's industrial production tumbled nearly 30 percent in March as the country shuttered many businesses to contain the spread of the new coronavirus, the nation's statistics agency said Monday.

Production fell by 28.4 percent compared to February using seasonally adjusted figures and by 29.3 percent compared to March 2019 adjusting for the different number of working days, Istat said.

Italy, home to the eurozone's third-largest economy, has been hard-hit with almost 30,000 deaths due to the virus, with the economy shrinking 4.7 percent in the first quarter compared to a eurozone average of 3.8 percent.

Italy was the first country in Europe to be hit by the pandemic, with the March industrial production figures impacted by a nationwide lockdown imposed from March 10 and all non-essential production being shut down since March 22, essentially paralysing the economy.