Italy Set to Tighten Measures to Counter Pandemic Resurgence

(Bloomberg) --

Italy's government is set to reinforce measures to curb the coronavirus pandemic, including decreeing that protective masks must be worn outdoors across the country, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said.

Speranza told lawmakers that on Wednesday evening the administration will likely order stricter measures that will include targeting social gatherings, to reduce contagion in the country even though the pace of the spread remains slower than in other large European countries.

“Italy is, together with Germany, among the big European countries the one which is holding up better to this second wave but we must not have any illusions,” Speranza said Tuesday in a speech to the lower house of parliament. “We are not out of danger.”

A forthcoming decree will likely include measures such as making it obligatory to wear masks outdoors across the nation, already in force in some regions, and limiting social gatherings as “a real risk” to spreading of the virus. Speranza said the average age of people catching the coronavirus in August was 31 years, much younger than in the spring, and is currently 41 years.

Italy had about 45 new cases per 100,000 people in the past 14 days, compared with 246 in France, 320 in Spain and 163 in the U.K., according to the European Centre for Disease and Control. Germany had about 34 new cases per 100,000 people in the same period.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte may chair a cabinet meeting on Tuesday evening or Wednesday to approve the new restrictions, and to extend a state of emergency to January 31, according to his office.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.