Rome, Dec. 18, (dpa/GNA) – The Italian government was expected on Friday to announce lockdown measures for the Christmas and new year festivities, though the details were still under discussion.
So-called “red zone” restrictions – meaning confining people to their homes except for work, health reasons, or urgent errands, and ordering most shops to close – are on the table.
According to multiple press reports, they will be enforced at least during December 24-27 and December 31-January 3, in a bid to prevent large family reunions at Christmas and New Year’s Eve.
But there is also the more radical option of applying the measures throughout the holiday period, from December 24 to January 6, the La Repubblica, Corriere della Sera newspapers and other media said.
A decision was expected to be finalized and announced to the public by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte after a cabinet meeting scheduled for 6 pm (1700 GMT).
“We have expressed great, extreme concern for epidemiological trends,” the coordinator of scientific panel that advises the government, Agostino Miozzo, said on RAI public radio.
“We must reduce mobility, reduce socializing, reduce all possibilities of contagion … the [virus] curve is still a high risk, the numbers are still too high,” he added.
The government already introduced some anti-coronavirus restrictions for the end-of-year holidays earlier this month, including the extension of a curfew and curbs on travel between regions.
Italy is one of the countries worst hit by the pandemic. With a population of 60 million, it has recorded more than 67,000 deaths linked to Covid-19, more than any other country in Europe.
GNA