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HEALTH

Six Italian regions remain under higher Covid restrictions from Monday

Restrictions stay in place in some Italian regions from Monday as local infection rates remain high.

Published: 30 April 2021 16:53 CEST
Updated: 3 May 2021 08:52 CEST
Six Italian regions remain under higher Covid restrictions from Monday
Photo: Andreas Solaro/AFP

Health Minister Roberto Speranza signed an ordinance on Friday evening changing the coronavirus restrictions in two regions, and keeping four others in the ‘orange’ zone.

The island of Sardinia moves from the high-risk ‘red’ to the slightly less restrictive orange zone thanks to an improvement in the contagion rate locally, the health ministry stated.

However Valle D’Aosta will turn from orange to red from Monday as the situation remains worrying in the small northern region.

MAP: Which zone is your region in under Italy’s coronavirus rules?

The changes will go into effect from Monday May 3rd.

The regions of Basilicata, Calabria, Puglia and Sicily remain orange for at least one more week.

All other regions and autonomous provinces are under yellow zone restrictions, meaning lighter restrictions are in place in most of Italy.

However, local ‘red’ zones may be declared in areas with spikes in the infection rate.

Many coronavirus rules within Italy’s yellow zones were relaxed from Monday April 26th under the government’s new emergency decree.

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Restaurants, bars, hotels, theatres and museums in these areas can reopen, and are now gearing up for their first busy weekend after months of tough restrictions.

Some 47 million people living in Italy’s yellow zone regions are now free to travel around most of the country without restrictions.

People in red and orange are now allowed to enter and leave these areas for non-essential reasons, including for tourism, using a new immunity pass.

Customers returned to bar terraces in Milan’s Navigli nightlife area this week. Photo: Miguel Medina/AFP

Many rules, including those on social distancing and mandatory mask-wearing in public, remain in place.

Italy’s national coronavirus Rt reproduction number has risen back to 0.85, from 0.81 the week before, with significant regional variations, according to the latest health data reported on Friday by the Health Ministry and Higher Health Institute (ISS).

Restrictions could be re-imposed if the value reaches 1, which means the overall infection rate is rising.

The incidence rate of new cases continues to fall however, with 146 cases for every 100,000 inhabitants, down from 152 last week, the report said.

“Although the vaccination campaign is progressing significantly, overall, the incidence rmains high and still far from levels (50 per 100,000) that would allow the containment of new cases,” the report stated.

Italy on Thursday hit its target of giving half a million jabs in one day by the end of April.

The target had originally been set for mid-April and was pushed back after Italy’s vaccine rollout was hit repeatedly by supply delays, bureaucratic problems, and cancelled appointments amid falling public trust in the AstraZenenca jab.

The jump in vaccination numbers on Thursday followed days of cancelled appointments and vaccine centre closures earlier this week as many regions started to run out of doses.

READ ALSO: ‘It felt like a betrayal’: Foreign residents in Italy report problems getting vaccinated

Despite the new increase, Italy’s seven-day average of daily inoculations is still only around 360,000, the Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper calculated 

New vaccine supplies started to arrive in Italy from Wednesday, and the country’s vaccination rollout will now speed up “significantly” from May, the Italian government’s Covid commissioner Francesco Figliuolo said this week

Figliuolo said on Thursday that he “hoped” Italy would reach the target of having 80% of the adult population vaccinated “by the end of September”. 

Italy has given a total of 19.4 million shots as of Friday, and has 5.7 million people fully vaccinated, official figures show.

Member comments

  1. How does one get the Immunity pass? I live in a currently orange zone and want to go to Lazio. Where and when can I get such a pass?

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BREXIT

‘In the dark’: Why Brits in Italy are still unable to prove rights to free healthcare

Despite UK and Italian authorities confirming that British residents covered by post-Brexit rules are entitled to healthcare in Italy, many still face "significant problems" in accessing it, the British government has said.

Published: 22 May 2024 13:38 CEST
Updated: 23 May 2024 11:57 CEST
'In the dark': Why Brits in Italy are still unable to prove rights to free healthcare

Cancer patients are among those in need of treatment but unable to access the Italian national health service amid confusion over post-Brexit rules, campaigners say, after clarifications from the UK and Italian governments have so far failed to resolve bureaucratic deadlocks at local authority level.

Since the end of the Brexit transition period in 2021, many British nationals resident in Italy covered by the Withdrawal Agreement (WA) have reported difficulties in proving their right to free healthcare under the Italian public system.

The problem was exacerbated this year after the Italian government in January hiked the minimum annual fee for ‘voluntary’ healthcare registration from €387 to €2,000, which many said they were unable to pay.

The British government in February stepped in to clarify that UK nationals covered by the WA should not be subject to charges for healthcare, and on its Living in Italy website it advised those affected to show their local health authority office (Azienda Sanitaria Locale, or ASL) an official note published by the Italian health ministry on February 15th which sets out their rights (find it here, in Italian.)

WA beneficiaries “can compulsorily enrol (iscrizione obbligatoria) with the Italian National Health System,” states the final section, pointing out that the deal, “in Article 23, provides for equal treatment with domestic nationals.”

But for some local health officials, even this written confirmation does not appear to be enough to clear up the confusion.

READ ALSO: ‘Life or death situation’: Brits facing high Italian healthcare costs amid rule change uncertainty

The UK government on Friday, May 17th, updated its guidance to say it had become aware that “some beneficiaries of the Withdrawal Agreement are facing significant problems accessing health services and renewing their healthcare cards,” despite its advice to show local health authorities the official note.

British nationals continue to report that local health authorities around Italy remain unwilling to issue them with a health card, while campaigners say the situation is further complicated for some by the fact that Italian authorities have also refused to issue proof of their permanent residency status, which entitles them to free healthcare.

This was the case for Graham Beresford, a British citizen living in Abruzzo who has been diagnosed with a rare cancer and remains unable to access the free healthcare he is entitled to, as he says local authorities don’t understand the post-Brexit rules.

Graham told The Local in April that the government’s clarifications on the issue had made little difference – his ASL continues to demand he pay the 2,000-euro charge.

READ ALSO: Can I get a refund after wrongly paying Italy’s €2,000 healthcare fee?

“Every time I go to my ASL office, I always feel like I’m dismissed,” Graham said. “I told the ASL worker I need medication for my cancer and she replied lots of people come in here with sob stories.

“There genuinely seems to be no compassion whatsoever.”

Graham’s story was reported in The Guardian on May 12th ahead of UK foreign secretary David Cameron’s first major meeting with European commission vice-president Maroš Šefčovič to discuss post-Brexit relations.

Campaigners also wrote to Cameron in April to appeal for help with the “desperate” situation faced by those unable to access care in Italy.

In its update to the Living in Italy website on Friday, the British government stated: “Since [the health ministry’s note] was published, and particularly in recent days and weeks, it has become clear to us that not all Italian authorities are consistently following this guidance.”

“We are urgently speaking to all relevant parts of the Italian government to clarify the situation so that we can give clear advice to those affected as soon as possible. 

“We also know that this problem is linked to the many difficulties some are experiencing with obtaining an attestazione di soggiorno permanente and/or the Carta di Soggiorno permanente. We are working to help with these issues too.

“We will update this page as soon as we have further news.”

READ ALSO: ‘We are desperate’: Why the UK must help Britons with Italian healthcare charges

Clarissa Killwick from Beyond Brexit, a group for UK citizens in Italy, said the situation “should never have been allowed to happen” and that there had been “a series of communication failures and inconsistencies.”

“We’re not far short of five months after the introduction of the €2,000 new minimum for voluntary contributions and there is still no clarity,” she added.

“There are fraught exchanges in public offices because people on both sides of the counter are in the dark or with conflicting information.

“People need information they can rely on, unequivocally. What do you say to someone who is waiting for an operation but has no idea what is going on?”

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