Italy to relax lockdown restrictions from early May
Italy will this week outline plans to lift its coronavirus lockdown, with some restrictions expected to be eased from 4 May.
The country, which has been one of the worst affected by the coronavirus pandemic, has been under lockdown since 9 March.
Italy’s lockdown has seen most businesses close and people only allowed out of their homes for essential needs such as food shopping.
Prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced today that Italy’s lockdown rules will be partially lifted in two weeks.
“I wish I could say: let’s reopen everything. Immediately. We start tomorrow morning … But such a decision would be irresponsible,” Conte wrote in a Facebook post.
“It would make the contagion curve go up in an uncontrolled way and would nullify all the efforts we have made so far.
“We must act on the basis of a national (reopening) plan, which however takes into account the territorial peculiarities.”
Conte said the gradual reopening would be decided based on scientific data and not to “satisfy a part of public opinion or to satisfy the requests of some production categories, individual companies or specific regions”.
“The easing brings with it the real risk of a decided increase in the contagion curve and we must be prepared to contain this ascent to the minimum levels, so that the risk of contagion is ‘tolerable’,” he said.
Italy’s Treasury expects the economy to contract by around 8 per cent this year, Reuters reported, citing two sources close to the matter.