SHARE
COPY LINK

HEALTH

Italy set to reopen all airports from June 3rd

All Italian airports will be able to reopen from June 3rd, after some were closed in March amid the country's coronavirus shutdown.

“It will be possible to proceed with the reopening of all airports from June 3rd, when inter-regional and international transfers will again be allowed,” the country's transport minister Paola De Micheli said on Wednesday.

This followed the Italian government's announcement on Saturday that it would allow European Union tourists in from that date and cancel the compulsory quarantine for foreign visitors.

READ ALSO: What are Italy's new rules on international travel?

Italy, the first European country to be affected by the coronavirus pandemic, closed some airports, including Milan's Linate airport, as its nationwide quarantine rules were tightened on March 12th.

Other airports could still operate but in a limited way, such as Rome's Fiumicino, Milan's Malpensa and the airports in Bologna, Palermo, Bari, and Turin.

Ciampino airport in Rome and Peretola in Florence, which were closed on March 13, have been allowed to reopen since May 4th.

The troubled Italian airline Alitalia also said on Wednesday that it would increase its flights by 36 percent in June compared with May.

Alitalia said that from June 2nd it would gradually resume its services between Rome and New York, and between Milan and southern Italy, as well as certain flights to Spain. 

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

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.

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).

SHOW COMMENTS