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UPDATE: Italy tightens Covid restrictions further with new emergency decree

The Italian government has announced its third emergency decree in two weeks as the coronavirus situation continues to worsen across the country.

Published: 25 October 2020 09:02 CET
Updated: 25 October 2020 14:06 CET
UPDATE: Italy tightens Covid restrictions further with new emergency decree
Restaurants in Rome now have to close early under regional curfew rules. Could this soon be extended nationwide? Photo: AFP
Italy's Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tightened nationwide coronavirus restrictions Sunday after the country recorded a record number of new cases, despite opposition from regional leaders.
 
Cinemas, theatres, gyms and swimming pools must all close under the new rules, which will come into force on Monday, while restaurants and bars will have to stop serving at 6pm, the prime minister announced  on Sunday afternoon.
 
“The aim is clear: to keep the contagion curve under control, because that is the only way can we manage the pandemic without being overwhelmed by it,” Conte told a press conference.
 
It was imperative Italy act now to avoid a second full lockdown, which “the country can no longer afford”, he said.
 
After the last two decrees were signed on October 13th and 18th, health experts and local politicians continued to urge the government to enforce far stricter measures in view of the sharply rising contagion curve, and warned that tracing and testing was no longer enough to control the surge in Italy's biggest cities
 
Italy recorded a further 19,644 new infections on Saturday and 151 deaths.
 
However Italy’s worst-hit regions of Lombardy, Campania and Lazio have in recent days implemented their own tougher local measures, including nighttime curfews.
 
Piedmont in the north and Sicily in the south will follow this week.
Here is a summary of the most important changes:
 
Restricted opening for restaurants
 
Bars, restaurants and other food businesses will have to close at 6pm daily.
 
Takeaway and home delivery are still allowed.
 
 
Gyms, pools, cinemas to close
 
“The activities of games rooms, betting shops, bingo halls and casinos are suspended. Shows open to the public in theatres, concert halls, cinemas and other open spaces are also suspended”, the draft of the latest decree states.
 
In addition, gyms and swimming pools must all close, the prime minister's office stated on Sunday.
 
Recommendation not to leave your comune
 
The provisional decree text states: “it is strongly recommended that all persons do not travel, by public or private means of transport, to a municipality other than that of residence, domicile or home, except for proven work, study, or health reasons, for situations of need, or to carry out activities or use services that are not suspended and not available in that municipality.”
 
More online learning for high school students
 
Nursery schools, elementary and middle schools are to continue lessons with students in attendance.
 
High schools across the country will be required to teach at least 75 percent of lessons online, as the latest decree aims to standardize various regional ordinances.
 

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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.”

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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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