The new Italian government under Prime Minister Mario Draghi is considering new Wuhan coronavirus restrictions as the country heads above the threshold of 20,000 new cases per day.
Prime Minister Draghi convened a meeting of several ministers in his cabinet on Monday, along with scientific experts, to determine if the country required more restrictions to stop the coronavirus spread, which could start as early as Friday.
Health Minister Roberto Speranza commented on the trend of new confirmed cases saying, according to Il Giornale: “I expect the impact of the variants to make the curve grow even further.”
According to Italian media sources, several propositions have been floated to stop the spread of new cases, including a curfew as early as 7 pm in some areas currently under a 10 pm curfew and closing shipping centres.
Fabrizio Pregliasco, a virologist at the University of Milan, told Il Giornale that “a hard lockdown would perhaps be faster but difficult to accept” and stated that the government could propose less stringent measures such as weekend lockdowns and other measures to avoid large gatherings.
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“The fact remains, however, that you will have to grit your teeth for one or two months, during which you need to adopt new restrictions,” Pregliasco said.
On Monday, Italy became the sixth country in the world to see the deaths from the Wuhan coronavirus pass 100,000 since the start of the pandemic last year.
“The pandemic is not yet defeated, but we can glimpse, with the acceleration of the vaccine plan, an exit path which is not distant,” Prime Minister Draghi said.
Italy has made slow progress in vaccinating its population and has blocked shipments of more than 250,000 doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine headed for Australia, claiming to be enforcing its own contracts with the vaccine supplier.
French Health Minister Olivier Veran commented on the Italian move, saying France could potentially follow suit.
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