at Easter rules for all of Italy

Red zone for Tuscany, Calabria and Valle d’Aosta, with new rules, prohibitions and restrictions for school, travel, second homes and some categories of shops. In the red zone on the last day for Lazio, which from tomorrow – Tuesday 30 March – enters the orange zone with softer measures. The week opens with more than half of Italy in the red zone on the day preceding the national Easter tightening: from 3 to 5 April, in fact, the rules of the red zone will be in force for the whole country. After Easter, as Prime Minister Mario Draghi explained, the green light at the reopening of the school – up to sixth grade – also in the red zone.

To date, the most restrictive rules concern – in addition to the 3 regions that have just been ‘relegated’ – also Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy, Marche, Piedmont, Veneto and the Autonomous Province of Trento. Puglia, with an ordinance already in force and valid until April 6, has adopted the ‘reinforced red zone’ regime with reduced hours, in particular, for some of the shops that are allowed to open during the day.

COVID BULLETIN

Italy closes March 28 with 19,611 infections, according to data from the Civil Protection bulletin. The table on the Ministry of Health website reports another 297 deaths. In total, there have been 107,933 deaths since the start of the covid-19 outbreak. In the last 24 hours, after 272 thousand swabs were performed, the positivity index was 7.2%. Intensive care (+44) and hospitalizations (+80) increase. Among the regions, over 3,500 new cases stand out in Lombardy, more than 2,100 in Emilia Romagna and 1,800 in Lazio. In Rome 900 new positives.

VACCINES

Today, according to what has been learned, the Prime Minister Mario Draghi will participate in the meeting with the Regions on the vaccination plan. The aim is to speed up the vaccination campaign and to standardize the plans of the regions. “The age group between 70-79 years must be protected as a matter of priority, it is a group with a mortality of 10%. Even in the first group of vaccinated people, the personal data criterion was followed, together with health workers over 80 and staff of the RSA , and we already notice a decline in infections “, says Professor Franco Locatelli, president of the Higher Health Council and coordinator of the CTS. “Priority has also been given to vulnerable subjects, an attempt has been made to protect the most vulnerable, and even here the age criterion is important”, he continues. Coordination is also an essential condition in the possible use of the Sputnik vaccine, as emphasized by Stefano Bonaccini, governor of Emilia Romagna. “No Italian region can buy vaccines on their own, as the rules are today, if the rules change we will see,” he says in half an hour more.

HALF A MILLION DOSES PER DAY

The government’s goal is to administer half a million doses per day. “For Easter we will have 12-13 million doses of vaccine administered. Italy will reach 500,000 doses” daily “in mid to mid April: that’s how it will be,” said Undersecretary of Saute, Pierpaolo Sileri, on Domenica In. Italy is preparing to face the Easter holidays with restrictive measures in particular for the days between 3 and 5 April, with a national red zone. “The situation is slightly improving if we analyze the numbers. The sacrifices are bearing the first fruits that will consolidate after Easter, it takes at least two weeks to further improve the data. This is the latest effort,” says Sileri.

MEASURES

“All the measures taken are having an effect, they must be maintained”, says Professor Locatelli. “The data shows a slowdown and a decline” in the epidemic curve. “The Rt index has dropped from 1.16 to 1.08, the incidence in the territory from 264 to 247 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. The absolute number of infected people in a week has dropped by 9,000, but we still had 145,000 new cases and we must not forget the burden on intensive care, we are at 39%. The number of hospitalized patients is 3,700 and is close to the peak of 4,063 reached in April last year. All the measures taken are having an effect, they must be maintained “, he concludes.

–