Covid cases rise in Italy, new restrictions to be implemented

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has warned of a ‘new wave’ of the coronavirus outbreak. He said while he is aware that restrictions will have consequences on the education of children, on the economy and on everyone's mental health, they are necessary to avoid worsening of the situation. Cases have been rising across Italy for the past six weeks, exceeding 25,000 a day .Due to rising cases of COVID-19, new restrictions are being implemented in Italy from Monday. While schools, shops and restaurants will closed in more than half of Italy, residents will be required to stay home except for work, health or other essential reasons. Over the Easter weekend from 3-5 April, the whole country would be turned into the high-risk ‘red zone’.

On Friday, Italy reported 380 daths and about 27,000 new cases.Italy's vaccination campaign has also been hit by delays and last week the Italian government had blocked the export of two lakh fifty thousand  doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia in a bid to address shortfalls of vaccines. Soe 1,70,000 people per day are currently being inconculated and the government aimed to triple the number.