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COVID-19 RULES

Italy’s transport mask rule extended to September as Covid rate rises

Face masks will remain obligatory on Italian public transport - but not on flights - until the end of September following a recent rise in the contagion rate, the health ministry has confirmed.

Published: 15 June 2022 16:39 CEST
Updated: 16 June 2022 10:01 CEST
The use of high-grade Ffp2 masks will remain mandatory on public transport in Italy until June 15th.
The use of high-grade Ffp2 masks will remain mandatory on public transport in Italy until September 30th. Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP

As expected, Italy’s remaining rules on wearing masks in certain public places will end from Thursday, except for on most forms of public transport, in healthcare settings, and in care homes.

The change was confirmed in an ordinance signed by the health minister, Roberto Speranza, late on Wednesday following a cabinet meeting.

The mask mandate will continue to apply to all forms of local and long-distance public transport within the country until at least September 30th, including on buses, trains, trams, and ferries, the ordinance states.

However flights are not mentioned in the new ordinance, as ministers have reportedly chosen to lift the rules for air passengers entirely.

The mask-wearing requirement in cinemas, theatres, concert halls, and at indoor sporting events has also been dropped.

Schools will not require pupils to wear a mask when sitting final exams, though masks continue to be recommended during exams and on school premises.

As existing rules expired on Wednesday, June 15th, the changes come in almost immediately from Thursday, June 16th.

No further details of the rule changes were immediately confirmed.

The government is expected to publish a decree in the coming days containing full details of the updated regulations.

There has been no indication yet as to whether the government also plans to relax the rules on quarantine and isolation for those who test positive for Covid-19.

From Thursday the Covid vaccination obligation also comes to an end for over-50s in Italy, but remains in place for healthcare and care home staff until at least the end of the year.

Local authorities and individual businesses in Italy can still set different rules than those at the national level, meaning certain rules may continue to vary from one place to another.

The government had initially planned to scrap rules on wearing masks everywhere other than in healthcare settings under its ‘roadmap’ first set out in March, but the health minister has reportedly taken a more cautious line amid rising infection rates.

After weeks of steadily falling infection rates overall in Italy, the contagion curve has now risen again, from a seven-day average of 15,000 last week to 21,000 this week.

An uptick in new infections has now been reported in 14 of Italy’s 21 regions and autonomous provinces.

There is particular concern about local spikes in cities, such as Milan, where the daily number of new confirmed cases shot up from 261 to 1,095 within the space of a week.

The recent increase in Italy, as in other countries including Portugal and Germany, is thought to be due to the spread of the coronavirus sub-variant BA.5, which the Italian Higher Health Institute (ISS) says is more contagious and has a greater ability to circumvent immunity given by vaccines.

Current estimates of the number of cases in Italy caused by BA.5 range from 1.4 percent to 13 percent of new infections.

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

Member comments

  1. What a ridiculous backward decision, Italy forever living in the past. The country has lost its flair over the last two years and this is just another sorry milestone of its descent into insignificance as the clowns in Brussels increasingly rule the roost. It’s reputation for social disobedience has morphed into a country of cucciolini. Che delusione!

  2. So does it mean the school year 2022/2023 in Italy will have mandatory mask use again for the year?

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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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