Because of again drastically rising numbers with the CoV infections, Italy goes starting into the third Lockdown starting on Monday, March 15: “We have to do it unfortunately with a new wave of the infections”, said the new Prime Minister Mario Draghi yesterday with the attendance of a vaccination center at the Roman Fiumicino airport. Within a week, he said, there had been more than 150,000 new infections, an increase of about 20,000 from the previous week.
“These numbers force us to be extremely cautious in order to limit the number of deaths and avoid overloading health facilities,” Draghi said. The head of the Gimbe research center, Nino Cartabellotta, had indicated that the increase in Covid 19 cases in recent weeks indicates the “beginning of the third wave” of the epidemic in Italy.
Schools and cafes closed again
The government in Rome decided on measures to remain in effect for the period from Monday through April 6. These include that regions with an incidence value of 250 cases will automatically change to the highest red alert level. This applies to a large part of the regions, including Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio and Calabria, explained Health Minister Roberto Speranza.
In large parts of the country, schools, colleges, cafes and restaurants will thus be closed from Monday. Only out-of-home sales will remain allowed. The sale of all non-urgent products will be stopped. A red alert has already been set for the whole of Italy for the Easter weekend.
In Italy, the mark of 100,000 deaths was exceeded this week. Recently, the number of infections rose sharply again, partly due to the spread of the B.1.1.7 mutation first detected in the UK.
- source: orf.at/picture: pixabay.com
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