Only China – where the virus was discovered – has been hit harder by COVID-19 than Italy, where, as of Tuesday (AEDT), there have been 24,747 confirmed cases and 1,809 deaths, according to the World Health Organization.

Prior to the disruption, free-scoring Atalanta and title-chasing Lazio had been the stories of the season, with Simone Inzaghi's men pushing defending champion Juventus hard for the Scudetto.

Inter showed signs it was heading back towards its former heights before losing ground in the title race, though the same cannot be said for Milan, which sits seventh.

Here's a look at the most interesting facts relating to Serie A's top four and the Rossoneri.

JUVENTUS

- Juve has been trailing for 133 minutes in 2019-2020, less time than any other team in Serie A this season.

- At home, Juve is unbeaten in its previous 34 league games (W29, D5), more than double the next best streak (Lazio's 15).

- This season, Cristiano Ronaldo equalled the record of 11 consecutive goalscoring appearances in a single Serie A season. He has also already levelled his haul of goals from 2018-2019 despite making nine fewer appearances, averaging 0.95 goals per game compared to 0.68 last season.

- Among the players who made their debut in the three-points era, Ronaldo was the fastest to reach 42 goals (52 appearances) – before him the record was 58 games played (Vincenzo Montella, Andriy Shevchenko and Brazil great Ronaldo).

LAZIO

- Lazio is unbeaten in its previous 21 league games (W17 D4), already an all-time Serie A record for the club. Six of the seven previous teams with streaks as long as that in a single season went on to win the Scudetto (the only exception was city rival Roma in 2009-2010).

- Lazio has scored at least two goals in 19 games in the 2019-2020 Serie A season. Only Liverpool (23), Manchester City (21) and Paris Saint-Germain (21) have done so in more games across Europe's top five leagues this season.

- Ciro Immobile has 27 goals in 26 games in 2019-2020. Only Antonio Valentin Angelillo (29) in has managed more after 26 matchdays.

INTER

- Antonio Conte is the first Inter coach to see his team score in each of his first 19 games in all competitions.

- Inter has won nine of its 13 Serie A away games this season (D2 L2): only in the 2006-2007 campaign have the Nerazzurri won more (11).

- Romelu Lukaku is one of three players to have scored at least 17 Serie A goals in their first 25 games of a debut season with Inter, emulating Giuseppe Meazza (1929-30) and Stefano Nyers (1948-49).

ATALANTA

- Atalanta's 70 goals in this Serie A campaign already represents its second-best haul in a single season (77 in 2018-2019).

- No team has scored as many as 70 goals in the first 25 matches of a single Serie A season since 1959, when Fiorentina netted 79.

- Three Atalanta players are into double-figures in terms of goals in this season: Josip Ilicic, Luis Muriel and Duvan Zapata. Only in 1949-1950 and 1951-1952 has the club had as many players reach 10 goals.

MILAN

- Since Stefano Pioli joined Milan, it has kept the most clean sheets in Serie A (seven).

- Milan has increased its winning percentage since the turn of the year across Serie A and the Coppa Italia. It was 35 per cent in 2019, rising to 50 per cent in the new year – it also increased its goals per game from 0.9 to 1.7.

- Since his first spell at Milan (which began in August 2010), Zlatan Ibrahimovic has scored 60 goals for the Rossoneri in all competitions, more than any other player with the club in the period.