Decree will be released next Wednesday and will have nationwide actions
After a series of meetings with governors, mayors and allied parties, the Prime Minister of Italy, Giuseppe Conte, presented this Monday (2), in a speech in the Chamber of Deputies, new measures to contain the Sars-CoV-2 coronavirus pandemic.
According to the premier, the next government decree – which will be released next Wednesday – there will be some nationwide actions, such as the closure of museums, exhibitions and gambling establishments, a 50% reduction in the maximum capacity of public transport and 100% distance learning for high schools.
Furthermore, shopping malls will not open on holidays and weekends, but food businesses, pharmacies and newsstands located within these locations will be able to operate normally.
The government will also prohibit travel involving regions with “high risk coefficients”, except for work, study or health reasons.
Conte, however, has not yet announced which regions will be affected. “In the next decree, we will indicate areas with three risk scenarios, with gradually more restrictive measures. The insertion of a region will be made with a determination from the Minister of Health [Roberto Speranza]”, explained the premier.
According to the Instituto Superior da Saúde (ISS), a government scientific body, four regions (Calabria, Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy and Piedmont), in addition to the province of Bolzano, have already reached a stage of uncontrolled transmission of Sars-CoV-2.
“There is a possibility that 15 regions will exceed critical levels in intensive care,” added Conte. Italian newspapers also say that the next decree will include a nationwide nighttime curfew, but the prime minister neither denied nor confirmed the measure.
Tensão
The new restrictions, which should come into force in the coming days, were announced just a week after Conte's decree came into effect, which closed gyms, swimming pools, theaters and cinemas and limited the opening of bars and restaurants until 18pm.
Municipalities like Rome, Milan , Nápoles, Turin e Palermo recorded episodes of violence and looting during demonstrations against anti-Covid actions, raising the government's alert to the risk of growing social tension.
“We are aware of the frustration and even anger expressed in recent days. And we are aware of the repercussions on economic activity, on production, but there can be no dilemma between defending health and protecting the economy”, declared Conte.
In the last 19 days, Italy registered 15 records of new cases of Sars-CoV-2, while the moving average of deaths in one week is 213, the highest number since May 12 (228), even before the end of the lockdown.
To date, the country has recorded 709.335 infections and 38.826 deaths in the pandemic.
With information from HANDLE
