Three of Italy's 20 regions and autonomous provinces were moved under low-restriction "white zone" rules on Monday following an ordinance issued by Health Minister Roberto Speranza on Sunday based on epidemiological data showing that the COVID-19 pandemic is slowing down, Trend reports citing Xinhua.
The three "white" regions are Friuli Venezia Giulia in Italy's northeast, the island of Sardinia, and the southern region of Molise. The rest of the country is designated as a moderate-risk "yellow zone."
Under "white zone" rules there is no curfew and no restrictions on the opening hours of bars and restaurants. Customers can eat and drink indoors as well as outdoors.
In "yellow zones," bar and restaurant customers can eat and drink outdoors only and there is an 11 p.m. curfew.
In all zones, people are still required to wear face masks both indoors and outdoors, and to observe safe physical distancing.
In a bid to contain the second wave of the pandemic, the Italian government late last year divided the country into four color-coded zones - "white" (almost zero risk), "yellow" (low risk), "orange" (medium risk) and "red" (high risk) - with varying restrictions according to the level of transmission of the virus. The minister of health reviews the incidence rate for coronavirus and other epidemiological data on a weekly basis and decides restriction rules based on those numbers.
The decision to move three regions into the "white zone" came after the weekly monitoring report for May 17 to May 23 showed that "the pressure on hospitals is decreasing and is below the critical threshold in all regions/autonomous provinces."
However, the report also warned that "the epidemic must be managed with caution" due to the "now prevalent circulation in Italy of the variant first identified in the United Kingdom and the presence of other variants that can partially evade immune responses."
By 6 a.m. local time on Monday, a total of 34,470,841 people in this country of 60 million had received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose, and 11,871,163 people had been fully inoculated, according to the Ministry of Health.
On Sunday, the ministry reported 2,949 new coronavirus cases and 44 deaths.