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ROME: Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte apologized to the Italians on Friday (May 1) for their financial difficulties and promised a better future once the shutdown is lifted.
Italy will begin to emerge from the world’s longest coronavirus closure on Monday and will see if two months of containment was enough to prevent a new wave of contagion.
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The death toll in the Mediterranean country has officially reached 27,967, second only to the United States, but its daily infection rates have returned to the levels last seen in early March.
The duration of Italy’s blockade means that its economy is on track to contract more sharply than the eurozone average.
Half of the workforce depends on state support, and the same number said in a poll published in the Corriere della Sera on Friday that they feared losing their job.
Conte admitted that his government was late to pay more than 50 billion euros (US $ 55 billion) allocated to families and businesses in difficulty.
“There have been and continue to be some late payments,” Conte wrote on Facebook.
“I apologized on behalf of the government and I assure you that we will continue to push for payments and financing to be completed as soon as possible.”
“THE COMPLETE WEIGHT”
The Italian government expects the economy to shrink by 8 percent this year, slightly less than the 9.1 percent projected by the International Monetary Fund.
But Conte warned Thursday that the drop could reach 10 percent if the virus begins to spread again and more containment measures are needed.
The health ministry is developing a set of criteria to determine when to sound the alarm about the threat of a recurring virus.
These include whether the contagion rates placed an unbearable burden on hospitals and whether the regions had sufficient evidence and other means to track cases.
The Conte government is reportedly only considering reimposing local locks instead of a national one if infection rates rise again.
The disease has been especially damaging to Italy because it spread mainly in three regions that account for 45 percent of its total economic production.
Conte assured the Italians that he felt their suffering and understood their fears.
“Many are experiencing anxiety and concern in this crisis due to closings and the risk to their jobs,” Conte wrote.
“I have read part of your letter, I put myself in your shoes and felt the full weight of what you feel.”
Conte insisted that all the suffering would be worth it if the strict social distancing measures were respected once the restrictions are eased.
He said four million Italians were returning to work Monday “thanks to the first results” of containment.
In the subsequent relaxation rounds of Italy, everything will gradually reopen in the course of May.
“If we reduce the risk of contracting the virus and abide by security measures, many clients return to cut their hair without fear,” Conte told a barber in the southern region of Basilicata.
Italians will be able to get professional haircuts for the first time in nearly three months on June 1.
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