Govt COVID 'relief decree' comes into force

(ANSA) - ROME, OCT 29 - A government 'relief decree' offering aid to sectors hit by new restrictions imposed for the COVID crisis came into force on Thursday.
    The 5.4 billion euro package offers new aid to 58 categories.
    Discotheques will receive 400% of their previous aid while taxis and NCC services will receive compensation of 100% of what they got in the previous 'relaunch decree'.
    Some 38 categories will get a 200% contribution including restaurants, gyms and swimming pools.
    For bars, pastry shops, hotels, tourist camps, hostels, and mountain refuges there will be 150% relief.
    The new anti-COVID measures have closed Italy's gyms, swimming pools, cinemas and theaters while bars and restaurants have been forced to stop serving at six p.m..
    The relief decree also include an extension of norms on remote working and leave from work.
    Premier Giuseppe Conte said "these relief measures have been passed to avert an economic and social crisis".
    There have been widespread protests, some of them violent, against the new restrictions. (ANSA).