Govt set to meet regions on 'reopening' Italy

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 20 - The government is set to hold a fresh meeting with Italy's regions on Tuesday on easing COVID restrictions and 'reopening' the country starting on April 26.
    The meeting will be preceded by a session of the government's scientific and technical committee (CTS).
    On Wednesday or Thursday there will be a cabinet meeting on the issue.
    Eleven regions plus the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano are hoping to go into a low-to-moderate COVID risk 'yellow zone' when restrictions are eased on Monday April 26.
    The COVID positivity rate in Italy is a still at a relatively high 6%.
    Schools are at the centre of the debate.
    Among the ideas for reopening next Monday are staggered timetables, boosting school transport and saliva tests.
    The CTS is expected to rule on pushing back a curfew from ten o'clock to eleven o'clock or midnight and on vaccine passes.
    Nationalist League party leader Matteo Salvini said Tuesday that "we will propose a curfew at 23:00; on reopenings we are halfway through the job, and limiting them to open-air activities seems useless to me".
    Italy has passed 11 million people who have had at least one dose of a COVID vaccine. (ANSA).