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UPDATE: Coronavirus risk level downgraded in five more Italian regions

Most Italian regions will be classed as yellow zones from Sunday, with coronavirus risk levels downgraded.

Published: 11 December 2020 22:03 CET
UPDATE: Coronavirus risk level downgraded in five more Italian regions
A statue of a nurse is placed in the nativity scene outside Assisi's Basilica of St Francis. Photo: Tiziana Fabi/AFP

As of Sunday, December 13th, people in five regions will find themselves with a little more freedom after their risk level was downgraded on Friday night.

Italy's health ministry announced the latest changes to the tiered system of coronavirus rules in a press conference on Friday evening.

Orange zones Lombardy, Piedmont, Basilicata and Calabria will turn yellow.

The red-zone region of Abruzzo will become orange. Though Italy's health ministry has classified Abruzzo as the last remaining red zone, the regional government has proclaimed itself an orange zone via a local ordinance.

The current classifications in other regions will remain in place, with Tuscany, Campania and Valle D'Aosta remaining in the orange zone.

The classificatons are made based on the coronavirus situaton locally according to a weekly analysis of each region's weekly health data by the health ministry together with the Higher Health Institure (ISS).

GRAPHS: Track the spread of coronavirus in every region of Italy

Italian health minister Roberto Speranza will sign an ordinance on Friday night confirming the changes.

This means that most of the country will be yellow from Sunday, with only …. classed as orange zones. 

None of Italy's regions are now classed as red zones.

Yellow zones remain under the baseline restrictions in place everywhere in Italy, including a nightly curfew.

Bars and restaurants may reopen in yellow regions, but only until 6pm.

The Christmas travel restrictions announced this month will apply across the country regardless of zone.

Q&A: Your key questions about Italy's coronavirus rules at Christmas

Domestic travel will be limited not only within the higher-risk zones classed as red or orange, but also between all regions from December 21st to January 6th. 

An additional restriction on travel between towns is planned for Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year's Day, however this rule may yet be revised.

Italy recorded 8,727 new coronavirus infections within the past 24 hours on Friday, health authorities said, and 887 more deaths.

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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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