As Italy continued to grapple with a surge of infections in many parts of the country, the health ministry announced the regions of Campania and Tuscany would be bumped up to red zones.
Emilia-Romagna, Friuli-Venezia Giulia and Marche also went from being low-risk “yellow zones” to orange zones.
The new restrictions, which came into force on Sunday, mean Italy’s regions are now divided into the following categories under the nation’s three-tiered lockdown system:
Red zones
- Calabria
- Campania
- Tuscany
- Lombardy
- Piedmont
- Valle d’Aosta
- The autonomous province of Bolzano (also known as Alto Adige/South Tyrol)
Orange zones
- Abruzzo
- Basilicata
- Liguria
- Puglia
- Sicily
- Marche
- Umbria
- Emilia-Romagna
- Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Yellow zones
- Lazio
- Molise
- Sardinia
- Veneto
- The autonomous province of Trento (Trentino)
The health ministry announced the changes as it revealed the latest national health data on Friday evening.
Italy recorded 40,902 new infections in the past 24 hours, the highest daily number yet.
The country also carried out the highest number of tests yet, at 254,908.
There were 550 more deaths in the same period.
Italy passed one million cases of the virus last Wednesday, and there have been more than 45,000 deaths across the country since the start of the pandemic.
Health authorities have repeatedly called for a nationwide lockdown, warning that hospitals across Italy, and particularly in hard-hit areas such as Milan and Naples, are struggling to cope with a large number of patients.
Some regions have started enforcing their own local restrictions as part of efforts to avoid crowding and further transmission of the coronavirus.
Veneto has declared itself “yellow plus” and, along with Emilia-Romagna and Friuli-Venezia Giulia, has introduced new regional ordinances urging residents to avoid exercising or simply strolling on the streets of their town centres.
Orange zones face slightly less severe restrictions than red zones.
People in regions set to move from yellow to orange zone restrictions will no longer be allowed to enter or leave their municipality or region without “proven” work or health-related reasons for doing so.
Bars and restaurants will close, though takeaway and delivery is still allowed.
People in red and orange zones are also asked not to move around within their municipality unless for work, medical or other essential reasons.
The entire country remains under an evening curfew between 10:00 pm and 5:00 am, while bars and restaurants must close at 6:00 pm.
