(see related story on row over curfew)
Premier Mario Draghi's government on
Wednesday approved a decree gradually easing Italy's COVID-19
restrictions, starting next week.
The decree, which will be in force from Monday until the end of
July, reintroduces yellow zones, where measures are less severe
as the contagion risk is considered only moderate, in the
country's tiered system of restrictions.
At the moment regions can only be classed as high-risk red zones
or medium-high-risk orange zones.
A ban on movement between regions has been scrapped by the new
decree.
People will be able to move freely between yellow zones and
obtain a 'green pass' for travel involving orange and red zones.
The pass will be valid for six months for people who have had
COVID or have been vaccinated and for 48 hours for people who
have not, but have tested negative for the coronavirus.
People who make false statements to obtain the pass will risk
jail.
Theatres, museums and cinemas will be allowed to reopen in
yellow zones and open-air concerts and other shows will be
allowed too.
Restaurants will be able to serve people at outdoor tables at
lunch and dinner in yellow zones.
But restaurants that do not have outdoor spaces will have to
wait until June 1 to serve people at tables again and then only
at lunchtime.
The amount of time high-school students spend in class is set to
increase, although not go up to 100%, as the government had
hoped, because local authorities said this could lead to public
transport services being overloaded.
So high-school students will have at least 70% of their classes
in school in orange and yellow zones and at least 50% in red
zones, with the rest being taught via distance learning.
At the moment, high-school students are having all their lessons
via distance learning in red zones and 25-50% in orange and
yellow ones.
Open-air swimming pools will be able to open from May 15 in
yellow zones.
Indoor gyms will be able to open in yellow zones on June 1 and
sporting events considered of 'national interest' will be able
to have a limited number of spectators.
Trade fairs will be able to resume on June 15, with congresses
and theme parks able to reopen on July 1.
The government has decided that Italy's night-time curfew, which
is aimed at preventing get-togethers that could spread COVID-19,
is set to continue to kick in at 10pm for the time being.
Many regional governments and Matteo Salvini's League party had
been pressing for the curfew to start at 11pm
Government sources have said the start of the curfew may be put
back to 11pm in the near future if the data on the spread of the
coronavirus improves sufficiently.
Over half of Italy's regions - Abruzzo, Emilia Romagna, Friuli
Venezia Giulia, Lazio, Liguria, Lombardy, Marche, Molise,
Piedmont, Umbria and Veneto - look set to be classed as yellow
zones next week on the basis of their latest coronavirus data as
do the autonomous provinces of Trento and Bolzano.
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