ROME (Reuters) – Italy is closing down discos and clubs and making it mandatory to wear a mask at night wearing a mask at night in the first re-position of restrictions if cases of coronavirus are picked up across the country, especially among younger people.
PHILO PHOTO: Italian Public Health Minister Roberto Speranza talks to reporters after European health ministers from neighboring Italy meet to discuss the outbreak of Italy’s coronavirus in Rome, Italy, February 25, 2020. REUTERS / Remo Casilli / File Photo
New cases in the past week in Italy, the first European country hard hit by the coronavirus, were more than double those registered three weeks ago and the median age of people who contracted the virus dropped below 40, data showed to look.
The new rules will begin on Monday – two days after an Italian holiday as many young Italians dance out – and will run until early September.
Masks will be required between 6 pm and 6 am in areas close to bars and pubs and where meetings are more likely.
‘We cannot cancel the sacrifices that have been made in recent months. Our priority must be to open schools in September, in complete safety, “said Public Health Minister Roberto Speranza on Facebook.
Speranza urged young people on Saturday to be as careful as possible as “if they infect their parents and their grandparents, they risk doing real harm”.
The government had kept clubs open despite encouraging criticism that they were attracting large crowds, that social distance was not respected and masks were not worn.
The sector has annual revenues of 4 billion euros, said the sector’s lobby group, Silb, and calls on the government for support.
Industry Minister Stefano Patuanelli acknowledged that there would be economic damage, but said he saw no alternative.
On Sunday, 479 new cases were confirmed, down from 629 on Saturday, with the nightlife, return of holidaymakers, and younger generations adhering to social distancing rules blamed by medical experts for the recent walk.
Since its outbreak on February 21, Italy has recorded more than 35,000 deaths.
Tests on holidaymakers landing at Rome airports began on Sunday, after the government said Wednesday that people traveling from Croatia, Greece, Malta and Spain should be checked for the virus.
Report by Giulia Segreti; Edited by Alison Williams
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