A restaurant closed at the Galleria Vittorio Emanuele in Milan.
Photographer: Francesca Volpi / Bloomberg
Photographer: Francesca Volpi / Bloomberg
The government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi is weighing new strict restrictions on up to two-thirds of Italians, with regions encompassing the country’s largest cities, possibly entering blockade amid a resurgence of the pandemic.
The tightening would lead Italy to make a full circle just over a year after becoming the first Western country to go into blockade to stop the spread of the coronavirus. Infections rose to a three-month high this week after the UK’s most contagious strain took hold amid a slow deployment of vaccines.
Draghi’s cabinet was due to meet Friday at 11:30 a.m. to decide whether to automatically designate regions as high-risk “red zones” if they have more than 250 cases a week per 100,000 inhabitants, according to a draft. a new decree seen by Bloomberg. The draft is subject to change.
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The new decree would take effect from Monday and could effectively send many regions, including those surrounding Milan and Rome, to a complete closure. The restrictions would remain in effect until April 6. During the Easter holidays of April 3-5, all of Italy would be a “red zone,” except for the few areas with the least risk of infection, according to the project.
Combined with If restrictions already exist, the new measures could mean that up to 14 of Italy’s 20 regions will be under the strictest level of control. Bars and restaurants in these areas will be closed, as well as schools and many shops. Citizens will be mostly confined to their home. In the medium-risk “orange zones,” two adults can visit a private home in their city once a day until April 2, according to the project.
Vaccine campaign
With daily infections reaching a maximum of three months, Draghi, the former head of the European Central Bank, seeks to speed up a loose vaccination campaign to counter the pandemic and restart an economy that fell 8.9% a year past. The country registered 25,673 new cases on Thursday, compared to 22,409 the day before.
The prime minister has faced objections from two parties in his coalition, the anti-migrant league led by Matteo Salvini and center-right Forza Italia of Silvio Berlusconi, which had pushed for the reopening of business in at least some areas.
Draghi will visit a vaccination center at Fiumicino Airport outside Rome on Friday at 3pm, where he will have to deliver a speech on containment efforts. The administration is targeting summer vaccinations for all Italians who want them. To date, 6.1 million doses of vaccine have been administered, with only 3% of the population fully vaccinated.
The government is also working on plans to allocate about 10 billion euros ($ 12 billion) to expand support for the labor market, which is part of a wider package of 32 billion euros. The funds would be used to extend the ban on redundancies in the services sector until the end of the year and to fund other measures, including advances.
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