Rome, Nov. 4, (dpa/GNA) – Two of Italy’s most developed regions, Lombardy and Piedmont, were bracing for partial lockdowns to stem the spread of the novel coronavirus, according to several media reports on Tuesday.
The Rome government was finalizing a new decree which will divide the country into three coronavirus risk zones, based on around two dozen public health parameters.
Regions in the higher risk bracket will face shutdowns, and Lombardy and Piedmont are expected to be included in this category, the Corriere della Sera newspaper said.
In both northern regions, the reproduction value, which measures how fast the virus is spreading, was said last week to be above the critical level of 2, higher than the national average of 1.7.
Reporting differed on which other regions would be subject to lockdowns, but Corriere and La Repubblica, another newspaper, both mentioned Calabria in the south and Liguria in the north.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte was expected to announce the new measures on Wednesday rather than Tuesday as previously announced, a government spokesman said.
The delay followed consultations on latest pandemic trends with government health advisors and tense talks with regional presidents, some of whom were resisting unpopular restrictions.
Many Italians are weary of new anti-virus measures, after enduring one of the world’s longest lockdowns earlier this year and amid a gloomy economic outlook.
Gross domestic product is expected to shrink by around 10 per cent this year, a record.
While it was still unclear how far regional restrictions would go, deputy health minister Sandra Zampa told RAI public radio they would follow Germany’s “lockdown light” model.
“The idea is to […] not paralyze the economy completely,” she said.
Starting Monday, Germany closed bars and restaurants and cultural and recreational facilities such as museums, but kept schools and most shops open.
In Italy, bars and restaurants already have to shut by 6 pm, and new measures were expected to bring in more nationwide restrictions such as the closing of museums and a night-time curfew.
Meanwhile the German-speaking province of South Tyrol, which has wide autonomy, adopted its own shutdown measures, valid from Wednesday until November 22.
The measures included an 8 pm to 5 am curfew, the closing of bars, restaurants and most shops, and remote learning for high school and university students.
In addition, 11 cities including the provincial capital Bolzano/Bozen were declared “red zones” for two weeks, with restricted entry and access and online lessons extended across all schools.
Italy’s coronavirus emergency has escalated over the last month, with daily infection figures rising from around 2,500 on October 1 to a record of nearly 32,000 on Sunday.
Infection numbers were down to 28,244 on Tuesday, but it was too early to say whether this marked a flattening of the infection curve.
The daily death toll – normally a slightly later indicator – rose again, to 353, passing 300 for the first time since early May.
A slowdown in the infection rate could mean that earlier measures – three sets of regulations have been introduced in the past three weeks – were beginning to take effect.
One high-profile victim of the virus is the 78-year-old head of the Italian Bishops’ Conference (CEI), Cardinal Gualtiero Bassetti, who was moved to an intensive care hospital unit overnight into Tuesday.
In recent days, there have been protests against virus restrictions in several cities, which at times have turned violent with the involvement of far-right and far-left groups and football hooligans.
The government has extended a ban on lay-offs until next March and was preparing more aid to businesses affected by shutdowns, on top of a 5-billion-euro (5.9-billion-dollar) package approved last week.
GNA