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COVID-19

Italy’s Covid-19 zone restrictions updated as Alto Adige goes into lockdown

Italy's northern province of Alto Adige will go into a strict lockdown on Monday February 8th, as the the first case of the UK variant was detected. The rest of the country will remain in either yellow or orange zones under national rules.

Published: 7 February 2021 12:08 CET
Updated: 7 February 2021 14:11 CET
Italy's Covid-19 zone restrictions updated as Alto Adige goes into lockdown
Residents wait to get a coronavirus test near Bolzano. Photo: Pierre Teyssot/AFP

On February 1st, Italy relaxed coronavirus restrictions in most regions, moving them from the “orange zone” to the less restrictive “yellow zone”, under the national colour-coded system that indicates risk and restrictions in place.

 
The national R rate, or reproduction rate, is stable at 0.84 compared to last week.
 
However, Health Minister Roberto Speranza stressed caution across the country. “We must not undermine the progress of the last few weeks, the result of the sacrifices we have made. The yellow zone does not mean we are out of danger,” he tweeted, adding that “we must not play with fire”.
 

 
The “yellow zone” applies to areas with moderate risk, where only national restrictions apply. It allows for daytime reopening (until 6pm) of bars and restaurants, opening of museums on weekdays, and greater freedom to travel within the region.
 
 
From Monday 8th, the autonomous province of Bolzano (also known as Alto Adige or South Tyrol) will be put under a strict lockdown for three weeks until February 28th due to the detection of the UK coronavirus variant and a high infection rate.
 

 
While the province was classed as orange under the national government's latest review of health data, the local government has ordered shops and schools to close and residents to remain at home except for essential reasons. 
 
The regions of Puglia, Sicily and Umbria are also orange zones, though several municipalities within Umbria have been declared local red zones.
 
Sardinia, which had been orange, will be moved back to a yellow zone.
 
 
From Monday, February 8th, Italy's regions are classified as follows:
 
Red zones: none.
 
Orange zones: autonomous province of Bolzano, Puglia, Sicily, Umbria.
 
Yellow zones: Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, Campania, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Molise, Piedmont, autonomous province of Trento, Sardinia, Tuscany, Valle d'Aosta, Veneto.
 
White zone: none.
 
Italy reported 385 coronavirus-related deaths on Saturday, up from 377 the day before, the health ministry said.
 
Please be aware that local authorities may impose additional restrictions on hotspots within each region. Always check the latest rules for your province or municipality via its official website: find where to look here.

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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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