Naharnet

Italy's Sardinia Loses No-Lockdown Status

Sardinia on Friday lost its status as the only Italian region with minimal coronavirus restrictions, as its pandemic situation took a turn for the worse. 

Since March 1, the Mediterranean island had been Italy's sole low-risk "white" region, where bars and restaurants could open at night and life had almost returned to normal. 

Sardinians enjoyed a looser curfew -- kicking in at 11.30 pm rather than 10 pm -- while under national rules on wearing face masks and social distancing.

But Health Minister Roberto Speranza ordered Sardinia moved to a medium-risk "orange" category, effective Monday, following a spike in its R value.

The R value measures how fast the virus is spreading, and any value above 1 means a growing epidemic. Sardinia's weekly reading rose from 0.89 to 1.08, prompting the tougher restrictions rules.

Nevertheless, Sardinia is still doing better than the rest of Italy, with only 43 coronavirus cases per 100,000 residents, compared to a national average of more than 250. 

Last week, Prime Minister Mario Draghi's government imposed a partial "red zone" lockdown on most of Italy, in response to a new spike in infections blamed on coronavirus variants. 

This resulted in the blanket closing of schools, including nurseries, and of all bars and restaurants except for delivery and take away service. 

On Friday, Speranza eased measures for southern Molise, moving it from the "red" to the "orange" category, also from Monday.

More than 104,000 people with coronavirus have died in Italy over the past 13 months, and variants are fueling a third wave of the virus that is putting hospitals under renewed stress.

Hospital wards have reached critical occupancy levels in 13 out of 21 regions, according to a weekly report from the ISS health institute and the health ministry.

Coronavirus risks increased "for the seventh week in a row," the report said, stressing the need for continued "maximum level" mitigation measures.

Draghi is hoping to provide some relief by speeding up vaccinations, which were held back this week by the temporary suspension of the AstraZeneca vaccine.

AstraZeneca inoculations resumed on Friday, but so far, only 2.3 million Italians have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, out of a total population of 60 million. 

Source: Agence France Presse


Copyright © 2012 Naharnet.com. All Rights Reserved. https://www.naharnet.com/stories/en/280269