Italy announced on Saturday that it has tightened restrictions in five of the country’s 20 regions to limit the spread of the coronavirus.
Send the news: The announcement comes as health experts and scientists warn about the more transmissible coronavirus variants, according to Reuters.
The state of affairs: For the first time since the end of January, two regions – Basilicata and Molise – have been placed in the country’s red zone, the strictest level of Italy’s color code system.
- All pubs, restaurants and non-essential businesses must close and the movement will be severely restricted.
- The levels (white, yellow, orange and red) are based on infection levels and other factors.
- In Lombardy, Marche and Piedmont, which have been moved from the yellow to the orange zone, restaurants and pubs have to close, except for the execution. Residents are also not allowed to leave their villages, except for emergencies or health and work reasons.
- Yes, but: According to Reuters, the island of Sardinia became the first region to move to the minimum restricted white zone.
What they say: ‘Many outbreaks are due to the (new) variants. “I am concerned about the progress of the epidemic,” Gianni Rezza, a senior health ministry adviser, told Reuters.
- “We need to be vigilant and we need to intervene quickly and strongly where necessary,” Rezza added.
The whole picture: Earlier this week, the country extended a ban on non-essential travel between the regions until at least March 27 via Reuters.
- Italy launched its vaccination campaign last year and has so far administered more than 4.2 million doses of the vaccine. More than 1.3 million people have been completely vaccinated.
- According to data from the Ministry of Health, the country recorded 20,499 new cases COVID-19 on Friday, compared to 19,886 the previous day.
- More than 2.9 million cases and 97,500 deaths have been reported in Italy since the pandemic began.