ROME (AP) – Italy entered a nationwide shutdown period for the coronavirus on Saturday to ward off travel and gatherings from Easter, even as the country’s variety of fueled increases in new infections began to decline.
The government announced last month that it would place all regions in the strictest “red zone” closure during Easter weekend to limit the chances of contamination, and take the same precautions they applied during Christmas and New Year.
Travel between regions and visits to family members were limited until Monday. Non-essential shops were closed and restaurants and bars were only open for collection.
“People are tired, but they are aware that protecting health is essential in these times,” Maj. Fabino Palletta, a military police officer from Carabinieri, manned a checkpoint in Rome on Saturday. One of the many set up in the country over the weekend to ensure people on the roads are authorized to travel.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has also ordered extra foot police patrols to break up large gatherings in squares and parks, which are usually full of picnickers over Easter.
“I’m glad they’re doing checks. That means something is working in this whole mess, ‘said Amato Monatanari, who was deducted for a check in Rome.
Italy, where the outbreak of Europe began, recorded more than 110,000 COVID-19 deaths, more than any other European country except Britain. Another 21,000 infections were reported in Italy on Saturday, along with 376 deaths.
It is estimated that 87% of Italy’s most recent cases were traced to the highly contagious variant first detected in Britain. But the Ministry of Health reported on Friday that new cases for the second week in a row had ‘slightly decreased’.
But because Italian hospitals in most regions still have over their COVID-19 capacity in both intensive care units and other wards, the ministry has concluded that new infections are still “too high … to take the current restrictive measures” to reduce. “
However, Italians are upset about the obstacle of the country’s vaccination campaign, which despite promising to prioritize older people, has left behind many of Italy’s oldest, most vulnerable people while teachers, police officers and other professional workers are stabbed.
The region in Lombardy, the largest in Italy, has suffered more COVID-19 infections and deaths than any other, but still has a faltering vaccination campaign and this week deserved a personal visit from Italy’s new virus tsar, Gen. Francesco Figliuolo.
“There are things that are not going well,” Figliuolo said. “We’ll notice it and then we’ll fix it.”
More than three months after Italy’s nationwide vaccination campaign, Lombardy opened a new centralized dating portal this week after the previous system sent some elderly people hundreds of miles (miles) from home to get a stab and others did not. ‘ could not make an appointment.
Attilio Fontana, Lombardy’s regional governor, acknowledged some problems but insisted they did not affect the overall vaccination campaign. He said the criticism of the regional effort was “nauseous.”
Italy administered 10.8 million vaccines nationwide, although only 3.3 million of the 60 million people in the country received both doses. Lombardy, which accounts for a sixth of the population and has long been proud of its healthcare system, has administered 1.7 million doses.
On Saturday in Sicily, a church temporarily opened its doors to become a pop-up vaccination center.
“For those who are Christians celebrating Easter, it means above all to be good and honest citizens,” said Rev. Michele Viviano, pastor of the Salesian Congregation Don Bosco in San Gregorio di Catania, Sicily.
“It also means working with the vaccination campaign, participating in it and organizing it,” he said.
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