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LATEST: Italy to extend quarantine until ‘at least’ April 12

Italy is to extend nationwide quarantine measures until "at least" mid-April, the health minister said late on Monday.

Published: 30 March 2020 22:08 CEST
LATEST: Italy to extend quarantine until 'at least' April 12
An empty street in central Rome. Photo: AFP
Some of the measures currently in place to stop the spread of coronavirus, including the closure of most businesses and a ban on public gatherings, were set to expire on Friday April 3.

But Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza announced on Monday evening that “all containment measures would be extended at least until Easter” on April 12.

READ ALSO:  'More sacrifices to come': When will Italy finally reach the peak of the coronavirus epidemic?

The government had already confirmed that schools would remain closed past the initial deadline of April 3.

The official announcement of the decree extending the quarantine period is expected on Wednesday or Thursday this week, the La Repubblica newspaper reported.

Despite evidence that COVID-19 is now spreading more slowly in the country, authorites have said this does not mean measures will be lifted and continue to urge people to remain at home.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said any easing of containment measures would be done incrementally to ensure Italy does not undo any progress made against the disease.

The near three-week shutdown “had been very tough economically,” Conte told Spain's El Pais newspaper on Monday.

“It cannot last very long,” he said. “We can study ways (of lifting restrictions). But it will have to be done gradually.”

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Italy's ISS public health institute chief Silvio Brusaferro told La Repubblica on Monday that “we are witnessing a flattening of the curve,”

“There are no signs of a descent yet, but things are improving.”

Italy was the first Western nation to impose sweeping restrictions to stem the pandemic, which has now claimed more than 11,500 lives in the country.

There have been more than 101,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus in Italy as of Monday evening, however the number of infections again rose more slowly.

Italy is now almost three weeks into a national lockdown that has emptied cities and paralysed most business activity.

iLast week all non-essential businesses were closed down and fines for breaking quarantine rules increased up to a maximum of 3,000 euros, with some regions imposing even higher penalties.

ANALYSIS: Five reasons why the coronavirus hit Italy so hard

 

 

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HEALTH

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Published: 11 September 2023 12:48 CEST
Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

READ ALSO:

Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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