Italy took the biggest step towards a return to post-virus normality on Monday, with the resumption of most commercial activities as well as of religious services.
“Going back to normality is a bit like relearning how to walk,” Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote in a letter to Leggo, a free newspaper.
“One step at a time, with caution and attention, so as to avoid falling and going back. Italy will start running again,” he added.
Shops, hair salons, cafes, restaurants, and several museums reopened, but they have to ensure social distancing of at least 1 metre. Going to the beach and attending Mass in church is also allowed again.
Retailers’ association Confcommercio estimated that some 825,000 commercial activities could resume trading, but added that not all would.
For example, it expected some 30 per cent of cafes and restaurants to stay shut. Several business owners have complained of the cost of adapting to new health and safety measures.
Some cafes and restaurants opened two weeks ago, but only for takeaways. Now they can do table service, and some venues installed plexiglas screens to separate customers.
At the Vatican, St Peter’s Basilica also reopened, while some other tourist hotspots, like the Colosseum, are expected to wait until the end of May before welcoming back visitors.
People no longer have to fill out a form to justify being outdoors, provided they stay within their region. Travel to other regions is expected to be liberalized on June 3.
In Milan, people queueing to enter the La Rinascente department store had their body temperature scanned at the entrance. Staff applauded the first customers walking in.
Italy, the first country outside Asia to be overrun by the novel coronavirus, went into national lockdown on March 10, and partially eased restrictions two weeks ago.
Lockdown exit plans are due to continue with the reopening of gyms and pools on May 25, and of cinemas and theatres on June 15. Italy is also planning to welcome back foreign visitors from June 3.
The country’s infection curve has been flattening since late March, but there is concern that relaxing restrictions could trigger a second wave of infections.
On Monday, the Civil Protection Agency reported 99 daily deaths from Covid-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus. It was the lowest figure in more than two months.
The last time the figure dipped below 100 was March 9, the day before the lockdown started, when 97 people died. The overall death toll reached 32,007.
In another positive development, total infection numbers increased by 451 to 225,886. It was the lowest daily variation since March 2, according to official data.
Announcing the reopenings on Saturday, Conte said the government was taking “a calculated risk,” amid the need to mitigate the economic fallout of the epidemic.
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“We must give it a try; people are fed up with being at home, many businesses risk dying,” Massimo Galli, head infectologist at the Sacco hospital in Milan, told the La Repubblica newspaper.
Public health authorities are under pressure to improve their capacity to test, track and treat suspected or confirmed cases of Covid-19.
The government has approved the use of a mobile app for contact tracing, but it is not ready. Digitalization Minister Paola Pisano told the Corriere della Sera daily it would be by the end of May. (dpa)
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