Due to another drastic increase in the number of CoV infections, Italy will go into the third lockdown from Monday: „Unfortunately, we are dealing with a new wave of infections,“ said the new Prime Minister Mario Draghi yesterday when visiting a vaccination center at Fiumicino in Rome. Airport. There were more than 150,000 new infections within a week, an increase of around 20,000 compared to the previous week.
„These numbers force us to exercise extreme caution in order to limit the death toll and avoid overloading the health facilities,“ said Draghi. 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 that should remain in force from Monday to April 6th. This includes that regions with an incidence value of 250 cases automatically switch to the highest alert level red. This applies to a large part of the regions, including Lombardy, Piedmont, Veneto, Emilia-Romagna, Lazio and Calabria, said Health Minister Roberto Speranza.
In large parts of the country, schools, universities, cafes and restaurants will be closed from Monday. Only out-of-home sales are allowed. The sale of all non-urgently needed products will be stopped. The red alert has already been set for the whole of Italy for the Easter weekend.
Italy passed the 100,000 death mark this week. Recently, the number of infections rose sharply again, partly because of the spread of the mutation B.1.1.7, which was first detected in Great Britain.
