The green pass is a digital or paper certificate that proves someone has received at least one shot of the vaccine, has tested negative for COVID-19 or has recently recovered from the virus.

The Italian government announced on Thursday evening that the use of the green pass scheme will be expanded from August 6.

People in Italy will need the pass to enter gyms, swimming pools, museums, cinemas, theatres, sports stadiums and other public venues, including indoor seating areas at bars and restaurants, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said at a press conference.

Nightclubs will remain closed, while a proposal to make the pass obligatory for travelling within the country by train, plane or long-distance bus is expected to be re-evaluated in September.

Business owners are expected to enforce the rules and those who fail to comply face a fine of between €400 and €1000.

Repeated failure to enforce the rules could result in businesses being shut down for up to 10 days.

The Italian version of the EU-wide green pass has been in use since June 17, but up until now it has only been needed for international travel within Europe, and within Italy to access care homes or large events like concerts, football matches and wedding receptions.

The nationwide state of emergency will meanwhile be extended until December 21, the press release confirmed, allowing the government to continue to introduce health measures at short notice in response to the situation.

Under the new decree, the Italian government has also changed the risk parameters to allow regions to remain low-restriction “white zones” for longer despite the recent rise in new coronavirus infections, Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi confirmed at the press conference.

Regions will now be classified based more on the number of people hospitalised or in intensive care due to COVID-19, rather than upon the number of infections as is currently the case.

The number of coronavirus cases detected in Italy has doubled in the past week as the country enters a fourth wave driven by the highly transmissible Delta variant.

On Thursday, Italy reported 5057 new infections – up from 4259 on Wednesday.

As of Thursday, 52.83 per cent of the population had been fully vaccinated.

However, bookings for jabs in recent weeks have slowed, due either to young people delaying their vaccine until after the summer holidays or to those who have chosen not to get vaccinated.