End of obligatory facemasks outdoors 'close' - Di Maio

(ANSA) - ROME, JUN 17 - Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio.and League leader Matteo Salvini both said Thursday that they hope Italy can soon end the obligation for people to wear facemasks outdoors, with COVID-19 contagion figures improving, a move France has made as of today.
    "It is the government's aim to remove (obligatory) facemasks outdoors as of this summer and we are close," Di Maio, a senior member of the 5-Star Movement (M5S), said via Facebook.
    "We have been waiting for this moment for months and now that the numbers tell us that we are overcoming the health crisis, it is necessary to accelerate .
    "Facemasks have been an essential tool to protect us from the virus.
    "Now being able to take them away outdoors is a first step towards returning to normality".
    Salvini said that he wants Italy to follow France's footsteps.
    "I'll talk to (Premier Mario) Draghi about it," Salvini told RAI radio.
    "It will certainly be one of our proposals.
    "If the whole of Europe is going in this direction, even in places where the situation is not as good as ours, then we must consider this opportunity too".. (ANSA).