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COVID-19 RULES

Will Italy bring back some Covid health measures?

The Italian health ministry has warned of a likely increase in case numbers and confirmed that it was considering new restrictions within the country, after last week bringing in a testing requirement for all arrivals from China.

Published: 2 January 2023 12:04 CET
Updated: 3 January 2023 10:40 CET
A new decree proposes lifting Italy's Covid restrictions in hospitals.
An Italian hospital during the coronavirus pandemic. Photo by Miguel MEDINA / AFP.

Italy’s health ministry described the Covid-19 situation in the country as “unpredictable” as 2023 begins, urging people to be cautious and suggesting restrictions could return ahead of a likely increase in case numbers after the festive period.

At the moment case numbers in Italy are still in decline, the health ministry confirmed in a circular published on Friday.

Data from Italy’s control centre monitoring the pandemic confirmed a decreasing trend in the incidence of new cases, and stabilisation of the number of cases that require intensive care.

But as winter makes the circulation of viruses easier and case numbers rise in some countries – particularly in China – the government urged people to be cautious.

As scheduled, Italy’s government further relaxed most of the remaining containment measures within the country from December 31st – while also bringing in a testing requirement for visitors from China and suggesting that some domestic restrictions could soon return.

The health ministry recommended the voluntary use of masks indoors and said that if infection rates spike it would consider adopting “other measures such as working from home or limiting the size of gatherings”.

Rule changes so far

From January 1st, planned rule changes removed the requirement for infected people to test negative to exit quarantine following a five-day isolation period and reducing the ‘self-surveillance’ masking period for close contacts from ten to five days.

The amendments also bring an end to a requirement for all visitors to healthcare facilities, such as hospitals and care homes, to show proof of vaccination against Covid-19 or a recent negative test result.

However, the health ministry on Thursday extended a mask mandate in all healthcare settings until April 30th 2023, in the same ordinance which ordered mandatory Covid testing before boarding and upon arrival for all passengers flying to Italy from China amid concern about an explosion in the number of cases there as its borders reopen.

The rules, in force until January 31st, mean all passengers travelling to Italy from China must show a negative test result upon boarding and also undergo an antigen test upon arrival in Italy, the foreign ministry stated.

Those who tested positive on arrival would be required to isolate in Italy, it confirmed.

READ ALSO: Why has Italy ordered Covid tests for all arrivals from China?

The ministry also recommended strengthening surveillance systems and increasing genomic sequencing to detect new variants of the Sars-CoV-2 virus, and stressed the importance of indoor ventilation and vaccinations.

“High vaccination coverage, completion of vaccination cycles and maintenance of a high immune response through the booster dose represent necessary tools to mitigate the clinical impact of the epidemic,” the circular stated.

There are concerns about falling immunity rates in Italy however due to low levels of uptake of the booster jab this winter.

The government meanwhile in December scrapped a requirement for healthcare staff to be vaccinated against Covid-19, and reinstated those who were suspended from work due to refusal of the vaccine.

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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.”

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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