[ad_1]
The decision of Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte to close restaurants and bars starting at six in the afternoon and to close theaters, cinemas and sports clubs for a month, was met with widespread criticism, and even scientists questioned whether these measures were enough to stop the spread of the virus.
“These restrictions will be the end of all of us,” said Giuseppe Tonon, 70, a restaurant owner in the small town of Oderzo in northeastern Italy.
“We are not in the middle of a city, we are in the countryside. Our clients come at night or on the weekend,” he told AFP, after an image was released on social networks, showing despair over the decision. .
Countries in Europe are seeing a significant increase in the number of infections, as governments take drastic measures.
Spain declared a new national emergency and a night curfew, while France registered a record number of daily injuries with more than 50,000 cases, and extended a night curfew that affected areas inhabited by about 46 million people.
The Covid-19 pandemic has so far killed 1.1 million people and infected more than 43 million worldwide.
And the United States, which continues to be the country most affected by the virus, surpassed its record for daily infections at the end of last week, bringing the issue to the fore in the presidential campaign.
Candidate Joe Biden accused President Donald Trump’s administration of raising the “white flag of surrender” after a senior official acknowledged that the government would not control the epidemic.
But another city that won the fight against the virus is Melbourne, the second-largest Australian city to report no infection on Monday, and is expected to lift the closure this week after four months of cumbersome restrictions.
Conte said he hopes the new and unpopular restrictions hitting essentially exhausted sectors hard after the close of this spring year “allow us to be more relaxed at Christmas,” while warning that “hugs and parties” may remain unthinkable.
The newspaper Corriere de la Serra published on its front page a cartoon of Conte telling Santa Claus who is trying to commit suicide: “Stop! We brought a decree to save you.”
Restaurant and bar owners are unhappy. The early closing hours mean the impossibility of receiving clients for the Iperitivo, when people gather for a cup before dinner.
The leader of the famous Italian orchestra, Ricardo Muti, publicly appealed to the prime minister, saying that closing art sectors would also “harm health.”
He said: “Defining … theater and music as ‘unnecessary’, as indicated by some elements of the government, is an ignorant, uneducated and insensitive definition.”
On Sunday, Italy, the first European country seriously affected by the epidemic, registered 21,273 new cases of the virus.
District officials warned that a new decree containing draconian measures could spark social tensions after clashes on the streets of Naples and Rome last week.
Italy was the epicenter of the virus earlier this year. But cases are now much higher in Spain and France, which exceed the million mark.
Spain’s state of emergency leaves district officials with the power to impose restrictions on movement to and from their areas and to extend curfews.
Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez said he wanted “at all costs” to avoid re-imposing confinement measures, adding that “the longer we stay at home, the better protection we have and the others are more protected.”
On the other side of the world, Melbourne’s five million residents have received much-anticipated news about the lifting of lockdown measures this week.
Residents of the city are subject to tougher measures than anywhere in Australia, but with new cases of infection falling dramatically, state political officials are under pressure to lift the measures.
“It was a very difficult year. The people of Victoria sacrificed a lot and I am proud of each one of them,” said Victoria’s Head of Government Daniel Andrews.
