Italy Forced Into Christmas Lockdown

Italy Forced Into Lockdown Over Christmas After Massive Rise in Coronavirus Cases.

Italy has announced it will go into varying levels of lockdown during the Christmas and New Year period as the government tries desperately to halt a rise in coronavirus infections that they believe could be triggered by the festivities.

The whole country will now be under “red-zone” lockdown on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, St Stephen’s Day, 27 December and then again between 31 December and 3 January and 5-6 January, when Italy celebrates the feast of the epiphany. On those days non-essential shops will close along with bars and restaurants unless they provide home delivery services.

People must stay home unless they need to leave for “work, health or emergency reasons…” Although in a significant exception, a maximum of two people (not counting children under 14) may leave their homes to visit another person’s home. On 28, 29 and 30 December, and 4 January, Italy will be in “orange zone” lockdown, meaning people can leave their homes but must stay within their towns. All shops will be allowed to reopen apart from bars and restaurants.

“It’s not an easy decision but these measures are necessary,” prime minister Giuseppe Conte said during a press conference. “The situation is still difficult, it’s difficult across the whole of Europe. It’s for this reason we are really worried that the [infection] curve could rise during the festive period.” Conte added that there would be a €645m support package for bars and restaurants affected by the measures. More financial initiatives would be announced in the coming days, he said.

Italy registered 674 Covid-19 fatalities on Friday, against 683 on Thursday, and 17,992 new infections. The number of people in hospital with coronavirus has been gradually declining in recent weeks but slowly started to accelerate upwards. Other measures include a ban on inter-regional travel between 21 December and 6 January, while the national 10p-5am curfew will remain in place.

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