Italy moves to help ease Europe's longest lockdown
Italy has outlined plans to help ease the strict restrictions imposed seven weeks hence to curb the spread of the coronavirus as it recorded its lowest daily death toll since mid-March.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said curbs would be relaxed from 4 May, with people being permitted to visit their relatives in small numbers, in masks.
Parks will reopen, but schools will not restart classes until September.
Italy has reported 26,644 virus-related deaths, Europe's highest official toll.
The country recorded 260 new deaths on Sunday, the cheapest daily figure since 14 March. It has confirmed 197,675 cases of the virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the disease globally.
The quantity of cases has been falling, and authorities now believe Italy's contagion rate - the quantity of people each individual with the virus infects - is low enough to justify a cautious easing of curbs.
What has been announced?
Speaking on television, Mr Conte outlined how the country would get started "Phase Two" of lifting its coronavirus lockdown. The measures include:
People will be permitted to move around their own regions - however, not between different regions
Funerals are set to resume, but with a maximum of 15 persons attending, and ideally to be carried out outdoors
Individual athletes can resume training, and persons can do sports not merely near their homes however in wider areas
Bars and restaurants will reopen for takeaway service from 4 May (not just delivery as now), but food should be consumed in the home or within an office
Hairdressers, beauty salons, bars and restaurants are expected to reopen for dine-in service from 1 June
More retail shops not already opened beneath the earliest easing measures will reopen on 18 May - along with museums and libraries
Sports teams may also be able to hold group training from 18 May
There was no announcement on the possibility of Italy's premier football league Serie A resuming, even behind closed doors.
Mr Conte stressed that social distancing measures would need to continue for months to come, and said church services would remain banned. He urged persons to remain a metre (3ft) from each other.
"If we do not respect the precautions the curve will rise, the deaths increase, and we'll have irreversible harm to our economy," the prime minister said. "If you value Italy, keep your distance."
