Schools, restaurants, shops and museums will close across most of Italy from Monday, after the health ministry on Friday announced tough new restrictions following a fresh surge in infections.
Most regions in northern Italy, as well as Lazio and Marche in central Italy and Campania and Puglia in the south, will be designated high-risk “red zones” from Monday, the health ministry said.
“More than a year after the start of the health emergency, we are unfortunately facing a new wave of infections,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Friday during a visit to a new vaccination centre at Rome’s Fiumicino airport.
“The memory of what happened last spring is vivid, and we will do everything to prevent it from happening again.”
A more contagious variant first identified in the United Kingdom, combined with a slow vaccine rollout, led to a 15 per cent increase in cases in Italy last week, a worrisome picture for the government.
All regions currently classed as low-risk “yellow zones” under Italy’s tiered system of restrictions will be bumped up to moderate-risk “orange zones” from Monday.
Every region with more than 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants (according to official weekly health data) will be designated red zones.
New restrictions will be in place until at least Easter, when all of Italy will be under red zone restrictions over the weekend of April 3 to 5, to prevent the usual large family reunions.
As with last Christmas’s restrictions, people will still be allowed to leave their homes once a day.
The only exception to the restrictions is Sardinia, which is Italy’s first and only “white zone”.
Earlier on Friday, Draghi thanked Italians for their “infinite patience” and said the new measures would be accompanied by fresh support for families and businesses.
But he acknowledged there would be “consequences for the education of children, for the economy and also for the psychological state of us all”.
Ministers said enhanced measures were needed after weeks of rising numbers in most parts of the country.
The latest official health data on Friday showed that the critical Rt number (which shows the contagion rate) had risen again this week, from 1.06 to 1.16.
Hospitals and intensive care units are now under pressure in most Italian regions, reported Italy’s evidence-based medicine foundation GIMBE on Thursday.
“The trend of the contagion curve shows the start of the third wave,” GIMBE head Nino Cartabellotta told Rai News.
Experts also recommended extending the ban on travel between all regions, which is currently set to stay in place until at least March 27.
