The scientific council advising the Italian government on combating the novel coronavirus pandemic will meet this week to decide whether to revoke the mandatory use of masks outdoors, as countries such as the United States and France have already done.
Both the premier Mario Draghi and the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, asked the collegiate, which is made up of doctors from different specialties, statisticians and representatives of the main Italian health agencies, for an opinion on the matter.
Behind-the-scenes information indicates that the government is already working on some dates to end the mandatory use of masks outdoors, such as July 5th or, at the latest, seven days later.
“We cannot waste any more time, it would be a signal even to tourists who want to come to Italy, we must be completely attractive”, said last Saturday (19) the minister of Foreign Relations, Luigi Di Maio.
The committee, however, remains cautious because of the risk of spreading Sars-CoV-2 variants – the United Kingdom has already been forced to postpone the relaxation of restrictions due to an increase in cases caused by the Delta variant.
Italy has almost 4,3 million cases and just over 127 deaths in the pandemic, but daily numbers have returned to pre-second wave levels. More than 50% of the population is at least partially vaccinated against Covid-19, while more than a quarter have already completed the immunization cycle.
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