Face masks become mandatory in Rome as COVID-19 cases rise
03 October, 2020
Face masks should be worn all the time out of doors in the Italian capital Rome and the encompassing Lazio region, local authorities ruled on Friday (Oct 2) in order to counter rising COVID-19 infections.
Italy on Thursday registered a lot more than 2,000 new coronavirus cases for the very first time since the end of April. Lazio accounted for a few 265 of these cases and has been increasingly concerned by the growing contagion.
Several other Italian regions, including Campania centred on Naples, have previously made mask wearing obligatory outdoors. Previously, masks had to be worn only in closed public spaces, such as shops and cinemas.
"A lot of the cases are linked with having less respect in using masks and in social distancing," Lazio's health chief Alessio D'Amato told reporters on Friday as he announced the brand new measure.
Italy was the first country in Europe to be slammed by COVID-19 and has the second highest death toll in Europe after Britain, with almost 36,000 persons dying because the outbreak flared in February. It has registered 317,409 cases.
Thanks to among the strictest lockdowns on the planet, the government got the contagion in order by the summer.
Cases have slowly found over the past two months but Italy continues to be seeing far fewer daily infections than elsewhere in Europe, with France, Spain and Britain all registering thousands more cases each day.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has eliminated any go back to a nationwide lockdown, but officials have said tighter restrictions may need to be employed in future to limited areas to contain any localised flare-ups.
Source: www.channelnewsasia.com
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