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COVID-19 RULES

Italy extends Covid outdoor mask rules and nightclub closures for ten days

Italy's government has extended several Covid restrictions that were due to expire on Monday, according to Italian media reports.

Published: 31 January 2022 18:05 CET
Italy's outdoor mask mandate has been extended.
Italy's outdoor mask mandate has been extended. Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP

Following an agreement reached by ministers on Monday afternoon, the country’s outdoor mask mandate will now be extended until at least February 10th, according to a report in the Il Messaggero newspaper citing unnamed government sources.

Nightclubs and dance bars, which had been due to reopen from the start of February, will remain closed until the same date, reports news agency Ansa.

The decision was reportedly approved at a cabinet meeting held on Monday afternoon with the intention of reviewing the expiring rules.

These included the requirement to wear masks outdoors in Italy’s lowest-risk ‘white’ zones, as well as a ban on outdoor parties, nightclubs and dance venues that was introduced shortly before Christmas in an effort to battle the country’s soaring infection rates.

Italian news outlets had widely predicted that the rules would be extended for at least another two weeks. 

As of Monday evening, there were no reported changes to incoming rules scheduled to enter into force from February 1st, some of which had also been up for review at the same cabinet meeting.

READ ALSO: Italian government to decide changes to Covid restrictions on Monday

These include a reduction in the validity of Italy’s ‘super green pass’ Covid health certificate, which is now required to access most services and venues in the country, from nine to six months.

Those who had their booster early could see their pass expire in the coming days or weeks – an issue which primarily affects healthcare workers, who were among the first to be vaccinated with a third dose from September.

The apparent absence of any such extension also raises questions about how the new rules will affect foreign tourists from countries which began administering booster shots earlier than Italy, such as the US.

With no fourth dose available, the Italian government is reportedly reconsidering the cut to validity..

It looks likely that ministers will decide to either keep the validity period at nine months, or even to extend it indefinitely for those who have had a booster, according to reports in Italian media on Monday.

The ‘super green pass’, or its equivalent in the form of a foreign-issued vaccination certificate, is currently required to use public transport, enter hotels and restaurants, access tourist and cultural sites, or to go to the cinema, sports stadiums, or concerts.

Other items still up for review include long-discussed changes to the country’s four-tiered system of coronavirus risk ‘zones’, which was not updated this week and looks increasingly likely to be scrapped; and steps to simplify the “cacophony” of rules on managing the health situation in schools in Italy, which Ansa says “is creating difficulties not only for the school system but also for millions of families”.

The government is expected to hold discussions throughout this week before publishing a new decree containing further changes on Thursday.

For more information about Covid-19 restrictions in Italy please see the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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).

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