Rome, Feb 22, (dpa/GNA) – Italy has extended an inter-regional travel ban by just over a month due to rising coronavirus infection rates across the nation.
People are not allowed to leave their own regions until March 27, the new government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi announced on Monday in one of its first decisions in the fight against the pandemic.
Draghi’s cabinet has been in office since February 13.
Exceptions include travel for work and emergencies. Visits to other private households are only possible to a very limited extent.
In “red zones” with a high coronavirus risk, people are required to stay at home when possible. Under the new decree, private visits are also prohibited in those zones until March 27.
The country of 60 million people introduced a three-tiered risk assessment system last year that depends on each municipality’s infection rate.
Protective masks are mandatory everywhere in Italy. There is a nationwide curfew after 10 pm.
The coronavirus infection rate has recently increased across the nation.
The reproduction value, which indicates how many people were infected by each infected person, climbed to 0.99 for the period between the end of January to February 9. The aim is to keep it below 1.
On Sunday, the authorities in Italy had registered more than 13,000 new infections within 24 hours.
GNA