More restrictions will be lifted from Monday in the southern Italian regions of Basilicata, Calabria and Puglia, which are to move from moderate-risk “orange zones” to yellow zones under Italy’s tiered system of coronavirus restrictions.
The islands of Sicily and Sardinia will remain orange zones for at least one more week, the health ministry confirmed at a press conference on Friday evening.
There will be no more high-risk “red zones” in the country, as the small northern region of Valle d’Aosta will be bumped down to an orange zone thanks to an improvement in the contagion rate locally, the health ministry stated.
The latest weekly health data report on Friday showed a slight rise in the national average reproduction rate (Rt number), though overall the weekly average incidence rate of new cases continues to fall.
Six regions currently remain under tighter coronavirus rules due to higher contagion risk levels locally.
However, most regions are now designated yellow zones, where many restrictions on business openings and movement have been eased.
Italy began gradually relaxing the rules in yellow zones from April 26, under the latest emergency decree.
Italy’s national coronavirus Rt reproduction number has risen back to 0.89, from 0.85 the week before and 0.81 before that, according to the latest health data reported on Friday by the Health Ministry and Higher Health Institute (ISS).
Restrictions could be re-imposed if the value reaches 1, which means the overall infection rate is rising.
There are still significant regional variations in the infection rate, the report confirmed.
It won’t be known what impact the initial reopenings have had on the infection rate until data becomes available in mid-May, when further relaxations to the rules are planned, including the reopening of borders to international tourists.
Italy has registered 122,694 deaths linked to COVID-19 since the outbreak began last year, the second-highest toll in Europe after Britain and the seventh-highest in the world.
The country has reported 4.1 million cases to date.