Italians enjoyed the outdoors over the past weekend before three-quarters of the population was strictly locked up Monday when the government introduced restrictive measures to combat the increase in coronavirus infections.
A more contagious variant first identified in Britain, combined with a slow vaccination of vaccine, led to a 15 per cent increase in Italy last week.
“I know that today’s measures will have an impact on children’s education, on the economy, but also on the psychological state of us all,” Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Friday. “But it is necessary to prevent weakening that will make inevitable measures even stricter.”
Most regions in northern Italy, as well as Lazio and Marche in central Italy and Campania and Puglia in the south, will close schools and ban residents from leaving their homes, except for work, health or necessity. Under business operations, only supermarkets, pharmacies and a few other shops will remain open, while restaurants will be closed.
In the rest of the country, residents are not allowed to leave their municipality, except for certain reasons, but schools and many shops remain open.
“We believe that we will only be able to avoid such measures with widespread vaccinations,” he said. Draghi added.
Less than two million people in the country have so far been fully vaccinated, partly due to the late delivery of pharmaceutical companies, but also due to logistical problems in some regions. Italy, a country with about 60 million people, is one of the countries hardest hit in the world: more than 3.2 million people contracted the virus, of which more than 100,000 died.
Last Saturday, the government said it aimed to vaccinate at least 80 percent of the population by September. The plan, designed by an army general led by Mr. Draghi was selected for his expertise in logistics, aiming to administer up to 500,000 doses per day and also to appoint junior doctors and dentists to give the injections in various facilities such as military barracks, production sites, schools and gyms.
According to a government document, the vaccination capacity is expected to increase in the coming months. Delivery rose from 15.7 million doses in the first quarter to 52.5 million from April to June, peaking at almost 85 million in the third quarter. After Pfizer-BioNTech canceled or limited the stock for weeks, delivery should increase in the near future, while AstraZeneca still plans a slower rollout of vaccines to Italy. However, the Piedmont region suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Sunday, a precautionary measure pending an investigation into the risk of blood clots.
The whole country will be locked up for the Easter weekend early next month to prevent the usual big family gatherings. As with the restrictions during Christmas, people will still be allowed to leave their homes once a day.
In other news from around the world:
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Spain Sunday was the first anniversary of the state of emergency declared during the early days of the pandemic, amid ongoing concerns about the spread of the virus, divergent closure measures and some protests over its economic impact. Musicians, actors, theater technicians and other cultural professionals held street demonstrations in several Spanish cities to protest the lack of support they said the sector received. According to the New York Times database, the pandemic has killed more than 72,000 people in Spain since March last year – one of the highest death toll in Europe. But the number of Spain has improved since January, which has led some regions to ease restrictions. On Monday, Northern Catalonia will be able to allow more residents to travel through the region, and shops will be able to reopen on weekends.
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In FrancePrime Minister Jean Castex said on Sunday that the country should ‘use all available weapons to avoid a lockout’, urging people to be vaccinated and tested for the virus. The French government has so far rejected pressure from health experts to apply a third national exclusion as cases and deaths rise, Reuters reports. The country has a nationwide exclusion period of 18:00 and the weekend is locked up in some regions where business is strong. On Saturday, the average of seven days of reported cases in France reached 23,273, compared to 18,755 a month ago. “The situation is not getting better,” he said. Castex said in an interview on live platform Twitch.