The northern region of Lombardy, the southern island of Sicily and the autonomous province of South Tyrol became red zones with only supermarkets, pharmacies and other stores selling basic necessities left open.
Health Minister Roberto Speranza signed an ordinance on Friday making the changes official, with the new classifications based on the latest health ministry data.
Although more than one million people have been vaccinated in the country, daily cases continue to hover around 15,000 to 20,000 and hospitals remain under pressure.
“This week confirms the general worsening of the epidemiological situation in the country already observed the previous week,” the report from the Higher Health Institute (ISS) and the health ministry read.
The rise in infections was “relatively contained thanks to the mitigation measures adopted during the holiday period”; however, the strict measures had not been able to stop new infections from spiking in some areas.
In Naples, for example, infections are up by 18 per cent after the Christmas holidays.
Speranza said the worsening infection rates in Italy “cannot be underestimated” in a country that has already suffered almost 81,000 dead since the pandemic began early last year.
Under the nation’s three-tiered lockdown system, with rules changing based on the level of contagion risk, nine of Italy’s 20 regions were bumped up from low-risk “yellow zones” to moderate-risk “orange zones”, to make a total of 12 in that category.
Italy’s orange zones are now: Abruzzo, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Marche, Piedmont, Puglia, Umbria, Valle D’Aosta, Calabria, Emilia-Romagna and Veneto.
Campania, Sardinia, Basilicata, Tuscany, Molise and the autonomous province of Trento remained yellow zones.
A nationwide 10:00pm to 5:00 am curfew is still in effect and gyms, pools and theatres across the country remain closed.
Earlier on Friday, Conte announced a new emergency decree which keeps the current ban on non-essential movement between regions in force until at least February 15.
Travel between regions is allowed for work, health, or other essential reasons.
Under the new emergency decree, Italy is also adding an extra tier to its system of varying restrictions: white, reserved for parts of the country where the coronavirus risk is lowest.
These areas will be exempt from the restrictions in place in yellow, orange or red zones, including the nightly curfew and 6:00 pm closing time for bars and restaurants.
To qualify, regions must have fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants for three weeks straight, as well as showing other positive indicators such as a low reproduction number and effective tracing system.
None of Italy’s 20 regions currently meet the criteria, under the latest health data; the region that comes closest is Tuscany, where the rate of incidence is still around three times higher than it would need to be.
