Read news from:
Austria
SHARE
COPY LINK

HEALTH

Italy bans hand luggage on flights ‘for health reasons’

Italian authorities have announced that hand luggage is banned on all national and international flights as of Friday June 26th.

Published: 26 June 2020 17:16 CEST
Updated: 26 June 2020 19:14 CEST
Italy bans hand luggage on flights 'for health reasons'
Passengers with luggage outside Rome's Fiumicino airport. Photo: AFP
The rule change was clarified by the National Civil Aviation Authority (ENAC), Il Corriere della Sera reports, saying it specifically prohibits the use of overhead lockers for any type of luggage “for health reasons”.
 
Small handbags and items which can be placed under the seat in front of you are still allowed.
 
The measure is intended to prevent aisles being blocked and crowds forming whilst passengers are boarding or disembarking, as the government aims to limit the risks of spreading Covid-19.
 
 
All passengers, even on long-haul flights, will have to store their hand luggage in the aircraft hold.
 
Enac said that passengers would not need to pay a supplement to put their suitcases in the hold.
 
Italian consumer association Codacons welcomed the decision on Friday, saying it would “avoid the chaos” which sometimes occurs in cabins “when passengers place their luggage in the overhead compartments”.
 
“In this area, the Italians are among the most unruly travellers in Europe, causing delays and queues which today would fuel the risk of contagion,” the association said.
 
The ban on carry-on baggage, along with Italy's other new flying rules, was announced on June 11th in the latest emergency decree – though it seemed that only “large” trolley cases would be prohibited, and the use of overhead lockers wasn't mentioned.
 
Meanwhile, social distancing rules on planes have been dropped, and passengers are no longer required to be seated apart.
 
In the same decree, Italy has dropped the requirement for airlines to seat passengers at least a metre apart – which effectively halved the number of people who could board each flight – so long as the plane is equipped with a HEPA (High Efficiency Particulate Air) filter.
 
According to the International Air Transport Association, HEPA filters capture more than 99 percent of airborne microbes and keep fresh air flowing continuously, resulting in all the air in the cabin being replaced entirely every two to three minutes. Almost all large commercial aircraft operating in Italy and throughout Europe use them.
 
There are various other restrictions in place on flights, including a requirement for passengers to wear a face mask and to fill out a form.
 

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.

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).

SHOW COMMENTS