Govt to start easing COVID restrictions April 26 - sources

(ANSA) - ROME, APR 16 - The government is set to start significantly easing Italy's COVID-19-linked restrictions on April 26, sources said Friday after a meeting of the 'cabina di regia' taskforce at the premier's office.
    The government will reintroduce moderate-risk yellow zones to the nation's tiered system of restrictions, but in a 'reinforced version' which means restaurants will be able to serve people at tables once again and concerts and sports events will be able to resume as long as they take place in the open air, the sources said.
    At the moment Italy only has high-risk red zones or medium-high-risk orange zones, where bars and restaurants can only do takeaways for home deliveries.
    A nationwide curfew that kicks in at 10pm is set to stay for the time being though, the sources said.
    The government intends to have high-school students return 100% to having lessons in class as of April 26, except in red zones, the sources said.
    At the moment high-school students in high-contagion-risk red zones are doing lessons via distance learning, along with pupils in the second and third year of middle school.
    High-school students in the rest of the country are having 50-75% of lessons physically in school and the rest via distance learning. (ANSA).