ROME (AP) – Italian police have imposed new travel restrictions on COVID-19 aimed at limiting Christmas gatherings involving distant family members, while public health officials on Thursday called for a “drastic reduction” in contacts. to prevent new infections during the holidays.
A nationally amended blockade went into effect on Christmas Eve, with restrictions and closures similar to the 10 weeks of harsh blockade the Italian government applied from March to May, when Italy became the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in Europe.
Purpose December 24-January. The slowdown 6 is to prevent a recurrence in January, after the wave of coronavirus infections in Italy fell more than during the country’s first spring outbreak, according to official data. Italy’s total confirmed number of cases exceeded 2 million on Thursday, while another 505 deaths raised the country’s official pandemic number to 70,900, the highest in Europe.
Despite the new restrictions, Italians have lined up at bakeries, fish markets and last-minute grocery stores to prepare their Christmas Eve dinner, the traditional multi-generational, multi-generational business that is a staple for Italian family life.
Italy, which has been under localized restrictions since early November, has seen an exponential increase in infections since then. But the latest weekly monitoring report from the Ministry of Health, published on Thursday, suggested that the downward trend is set.
Warning that hospitals are still at risk of being overwhelmed, the ministry called for “a drastic reduction in physical interaction” among people beyond the immediate family. The government has urged Italians to limit their “dinner” Christmas Eve dinners to no more than two people who do not share the same household.
“It seems trivial and you may be wondering, ‘Why only two people outside the nuclear family?’ “, Admitted Dr. Giovanni Rezza, responsible for prevention at the Italian Ministry of Health. “But it is clearly based on probability calculations: the larger the size of the assembly, the greater the risk that one of these people, especially if coming from elsewhere, will be infected and therefore risk to others. “
To reduce this possibility, the government has banned residents who start traveling from region to region from Monday. Police came into force on Thursday to check that Italians on the road comply with the rules that limit travel in their own regions.
Col. Carabinieri Alessandro Dominici, on patrol in front of the Colosseum in Rome, said that the penalties range from 400 euros to 3,000 euros (488 – 3,700 USD and can increase for several crimes.
Residents also had to have certificates issued by the police explaining why they were out with work, health care and other necessities, such as grocery shopping.
But the development of food on Christmas Eve turned out to be a busy business, as they often are at this time of year. Buyers in Rome have lined up outside the markets to pick up pre-ordered fish, which in much of southern Italy form the backbone of the traditional holiday table. Bakeries quickly sold panettone cakes or lighter yellow “pandoro” cakes, powdered with powdered sugar, which are basic ingredients for Christmas desserts.
“Yesterday, there were 900 people in the fish department, all piled on top of each other,” said Daniela Tufoni, who works in a supermarket in Rome.
Tufoni said police shot her on Thursday to see if she had a legitimate reason to be out. “It’s good that I’m doing these checks, but if I go to supermarkets, I can’t tell you what they’ll find,” she said from her car. “No one respects distance.”
The Catholic Churches have moved the hours of the Liturgy from midnight by a few hours, so that the congregations can observe a coverage time from 10 pm. Pope Francis planned to celebrate his Christmas vigil service starting at 7:30 p.m. to a small group in St. Peter’s Basilica.
Non-essential shops, restaurants and bars were closed: the Galleria shopping center in Milan, with glass domes, was almost empty, the shops on the usually crowded Via del Corso shopping street were closed, and the pigeons had St. Mark’s Square in Venice on their own.
Restaurants and shops receive a reopening break for business for a few days next week, before closing again before the New Year and the Feast of the Epiphany on January 6, which marks the end of the deadlock.
The Italian Government is particularly concerned about the continuing high demand for beds in both intensive care units and regular hospital wards for COVID-19 patients. At national level, Italian hospitals remain only within the reference limit set by the government of having no more than 30% of ICU beds and 40% of non-ICU beds dedicated to virus patients.
Officials aim to keep COVID-19 hospitalizations below these thresholds so that patients with other medical needs can receive treatment. Regions that far exceed the benchmarks have been subject to stricter restrictions to reduce infections and related hospitalizations.
Italy is set to join other EU countries in administering their first doses of COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, with health workers and nursing home residents being among the first to receive vaccines.
___
AP visual journalist Luigi Navarro contributed.