The most populous regions in the north of the peninsula, including Lombardy with Milan, and Lazio with Roma, will be classified as “red areas” to try to contain the pandemic.
Italy, largely confined since Monday (15) to curb the spread of the coronavirus, is banking on an improvement “in the second half of spring”, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Sunday (14).
“The implementation of more stringent measures and the progressive increase in vaccinated people lead us to think that we will have better numbers in the second half of spring,” declared the minister in an interview published this Sunday in the newspaper La Repubblica.
“The new fact is the variants, especially the English variant, which prevails in our country (…) and represents 54% of cases, although we expect a higher number” in the future, he stated.
"Each dose of vaccine injected is a step towards a way out of the crisis“, commented Speranza.
Most of Italy is expected to remain in lockdown from Monday due to new restrictions due to the rise in coronavirus cases.
According to the color classification, the red area is the most contagious and involves the closure of schools and universities, as well as bars, cafes and restaurants (except takeout).
The other regions were declared an orange area, with intermediate contagion, according to the ministry.
Only the island of Sardinia is a white area, that is, without contagion, after having subjected the entire population to anti-covid tests.
A Council of Ministers held on Friday decided that, from March 15th to April 6th, regions “where the weekly number of infections exceeds 250 per 100.000 inhabitants will be considered red”.
Italy, with 102.145 deaths Since the beginning of the pandemic, this Sunday there were 24 cases and 21.315 new deaths in 264 hours.
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