Italy tightens restrictions amid 'new wave'
Shops, restaurants and schools might be closed across almost all of Italy on Mon, with PM Mario Draghi caution of a good "new wave" of the coronavirus outbreak.
For three days over Easter, 3-5 April, there will be a total shutdown.
Italy, which year ago imposed among the first national lockdowns, is once more struggling to support the rapid spread of infections.
The country has reported a lot more than 100,000 Covid-related deaths, Europe's second highest tally following the UK.
Italy's vaccination campaign offers been hit by delays, as possesses been seen elsewhere in europe.
Last week the federal government on Rome blocked the export of 250,000 doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia on a bid to handle shortfalls of vaccines.
Somewhere else, Bulgaria, Denmark and Norway contain all paused the application of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine above fears it triggers blood clots.
The World Health Corporation said on Fri there is no indication this was true, stressing that countries shouldn't stop using the vaccine.
In various other developments across Europe:
- Poland registered practically 19,000 new daily cases on Friday - the highest number since November
- Germany reported an instant rise found in infections among schoolchildren, with new Covid variants blamed
- In France, the quantity of patients in intensive care units exceeded 4,000 - the record figure for more than three months. The federal government has not eliminated more regional lockdowns
- Slovakia and the Czech Republic were reach by government crises above buying non-EU approved vaccines
- From Monday, schools, shops and restaurants will shut in more than half of Italy, including the two most populous regions containing Rome and Milan.
Residents will be asked to stay home aside from work, health or perhaps other essential reasons.
The extra restrictions would last until Easter, Mr Draghi's office said, and over the Easter weekend the complete country would be turned into the high-risk "red zone".
"I'm aware that today's restrictions will have consequences on the education of your children, on the economy and on everyone's mental wellbeing," Mr Draghi said.
"But they're necessary to prevent a worsening of the problem that would require even stricter measures."
Cases have been growing across Italy for days gone by six weeks, exceeding 25,000 a day.
In most the country's areas "hospitals and most importantly intensive care units already are overloaded", the GIMBE health think-tank warned this week, the AFP news agency reported.
The island of Sardinia is the only region where infections rates are low.
Italy has had almost 3.2 million confirmed infections since the outbreak began last year.
