Italy tightens controls to ensure public stays home over Easter as new Covid-19 cases climb

ITALY has warned the public to stay at home over the Easter break to prevent a spike in new cases and deaths.

To prevent Italians from flouting the lockdown measures, police in Italy are preparing to tighten controls over the Easter weekend, by increasing the number of roadblocks in place and enforcing rules to prevent people from visiting relatives out of town or spending the holiday at their second home.

Although fewer new deaths and cases are being reported, the numbers remain high and the government has repeatedly warned the public “not to let their guard down” and to “continue to follow quarantine rules.”

“The health and economic effects of a new rising curve would be disastrous,” said Italy’s health expert Nino Cartabellotta. Italy registered fewer fatalities yesterday – 542 in the last 24 hours, taking the country’s Covid-19 death toll to 17,669. However, a higher number of new cases were confirmed on Wednesday – 3,836 compared to 3,039 on Tuesday.

Although the increase in the number of new people infected with the disease has dropped considerably (around 2.8 per cent on Wednesday), new cases would have to drop below 1 per cent to gradually lift lockdown restrictions, according to Cartabellotta.

There are still around 3,693 patients in intensive care, however, the total number of patients in critical condition is reported to have fallen for the fifth consecutive day. Around 139,422 people in Italy have been infected with the coronavirus since the outbreak began – and it’s now the third country in the world with the most infections, after the US and Spain.