(ANSA) - ROME, MAY 10 - Health Undersecretary Pierpaolo Sileri said Monday that it should be possible to remove the obligation for people to wear facemasks outdoors once 30 million people, approximately half of the Italian population, are vaccinated for COVID-19.
    "I agree with the hypothesis (of removing the obligation to wear facemasks outdoors) when 30 million people are vaccinated with at least one dose of a vaccine," Sileri said.
    "I think it is sensible to put the facemask in your pocket in the open air where there are no crowds of people and to put it back on your face when there are gatherings and a risk". He added that he as in favour of allowing Italy's shopping malls to reopen at weekends.
    "Having protected the most vulnerable parts of the population with vaccinations, it is clear that the shopping centres should resume activity, with rules that must be respected," he said.
    There have been 5,080 new cases of COVID-19 in Italy in the last 24 hours, and 198 more victims of the virus, the health ministry said Monday. That compares with 8,292 new cases and 139 more victims Sunday.
    The case tally since the start of the epidemic is now 4,116,287, and the death toll 123,031.
    The currently positive are 373,670, down 10,184 on Sunday. The recovered and discharged are 3,619,586, up 15,063 on Sunday.
    Some 130,000 more tests have been done, compared to 226,006 Sunday. The positivity rate is 0.2% up, from 3.7% to 3.9%.
    Intensive care cases are down 34, and hospital admissions up seven.
    A 23-year-old woman got six doses of COVID vaccine by mistake on Sunday, the local health agency (ASL) at Massa in northern Tuscany said Monday.
    A nurse injected the whole contents of a vial into the woman instead of just the one dose, by mistake, La Nazione daily reported.
    The young woman was in observation all night at the Massa hospital and did not show allergies or other symptoms, the ASL said. She is expected to be discharged later Monday.
    All of Italy is a moderate-risk yellow zone, except for Sicily, Sardinia and Valle D'Aosta, as of Monday after the government revised the way regions are classed in Italy's tiered system of COVID-19 restrictions on the basis of improved contagion data.
    Furthermore, Italy no longer has any high-risk red zones, where movements are limited and all non-essential shops must close, after Valle D'Aosta was bumped down to orange, joining Sicily and Sardinia in this tier.
    In yellow zones, the coronavirus restrictions are far less stringent. All shops can open, for example, and bars and restaurants can serve people at outdoor tables.
    In orange zones non-essential shops can do business but bars and restaurants can only do take-aways and home deliveries and cinemas and theatres have to stay shut. The health ministry said Sunday that Italy had registered 139 COVID-19-linked deaths in the previous 24 hours, the lowest daily figure since October 25.
    (ANSA).