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ROME: Italy, one of the countries hardest hit by Covid-19, will undergo further restrictions during the Christmas and New Year periods, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced on Friday evening (December 18).
Under the new measures, shops, bars and restaurants will be closed and travel between regions will be prohibited and, in theory, only one daily trip abroad per household will be allowed.
Religious celebrations will be allowed until 10:00 p.m.
The move comes as Lombardy, Veneto and Lazio all recorded a transmission rate of more than 1, meaning the virus is spreading again in three key regions after weeks of declining contagion curve. The national rate is 0.86, which means that, on average, the curve is flattening out.
“Our experts fear that the infection curve will increase during the Christmas period,” Conte said.
The prime minister admitted that the authorities had neither the means nor the will to control compliance with the containment measures, but called on Italians to respect a new limit of people accommodating two adult guests at home.
“The virus continues to circulate everywhere. We can fold it, but we can’t beat it, ” Conte said. “This is why even among our experts there is great concern that the contagion curve could increase during the Christmas period.”
However, food stores, hairdressing salons, pharmacies, tobacconists and laundries, as well as bookstores, will remain open.
Conte specified that the lockdown would be relaxed on December 28, 29 and 30, as well as January 4.
These days, the shops can stay open until 9:00 p.m. and people can move freely.
The new restrictions will mean that Christmas lunches are not made in restaurants, as had been foreseen in a previous decree, although take-out and deliveries are allowed.
To soften the blow to an already devastated sector, the decree includes 645 million euros in aid.
In anticipation of the inter-region driving ban, which had already been announced, many people switched vacation trips to this weekend.
Italy has 60 million inhabitants and one of the oldest populations in Europe.
Italy reported 674 coronavirus-related deaths on Friday from 683 the day before, the Health Ministry said, while the daily count of new infections fell to 17,992 from 18,236.
Italy, the first western country affected by the virus, has recorded 67,894 deaths from COVID-19 since the outbreak emerged in February, the highest number in Europe and the fifth highest in the world.
It has also recorded 1.92 million cases to date.
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