COVID: Next 7-10 days crucial says health minister

(ANSA) - ROME, NOV 16 - Health Minister Roberto Speranza has said the next 10 days will be crucial for the fight against COVID-19 in Italy.
    "The contagion curve is stabilizing," Speranza told daily newspaper La Stampa.
    "It is still too early to say but there are reasons to think that the latest measures are giving some results.
    "The next seven to 10 days will be decisive".
    Earlier this month the government introduced a three-tier system of restrictions based on a region's COVID risk: yellow, orange and red.
    At the weekend Campania and Tuscany went into lockdown after being bumped up from being moderate risk COVID yellow zones to high risk red zones, joining Calabria, Lombardy, Piedmont and Val d'Aosta, plus the autonomous province of Bolzano.
    Abruzzo, Umbria, Basilicata, Liguria, Puglia, Sicily, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Marche are orange zones and face slight less stringent restrictions.
    The rest of the country is moderate risk - yellow - although Basilicata has closed its schools until December 2 and Abruzzo looks set to go into lockdown.
    Speranza also said that he does not expect mass COVID-19 vaccinations to take place until the second half of 2021.
    (ANSA).