Italy on Thursday entered a nationwide red zone of very high risks forced by a spike in COVID-19, which is set to remain in place through Christmas and New Year's Day to Jan. 6, reports Xinhua.
Red zone rules include a ban on travel between regions, a 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew, closure of shops, bars and restaurants, as well as an urge for keeping holiday gatherings at home to a minimum of two adult visitors.
To contain the second wave of COVID-19, the government has categorized Italy as three color-coded areas, namely yellow, orange and red, with different levels of restrictions corresponding to the severity of virus transmission.
Areas with uncontrolled transmission that stretches the national health system beyond capacity are defined red, with the toughest anti-virus limits in place, said the Ministry of Health. Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Dec. 18 announced the designation of the entire country as a red zone over the holidays to stem the virus spread.
Infections as of Thursday stood at 593,632 in this country with a population of about 60 million, the ministry said, adding that 505 patients succumbed to COVID-19 on Thursday, pushing the overall fatalities up to 70,395 since the pandemic started.
Among the positive cases, 566,973 with light or no symptoms were quarantined at home, 24,070 hospitalized with symptoms, and 2,589 in intensive care units. Overall, the incidence (of infections) in Italy remains very high and the impact of the epidemic continues to be significant in most of the country, the ministry said Thursday in a coronavirus monitoring report covering the week of Dec. 14-20.
As well, in most of the regions there is a moderate to high risk of an uncontrolled, unmanageable epidemic, the ministry said. This situation confirms the need to maintain a strict approach to the mitigation measures adopted during the Christmas holiday period.
Extraordinary Commissioner for the Coronavirus Emergency Domenico Arcuri confirmed Wednesday that Italy's vaccination drive is set to begin on Sunday with the arrival of an
initial 9,750 doses of the Pfizer-BioNtech vaccine.
