Italy extends lockdown until 'at least' April 12
06 April, 2020
Italy on Monday extended an economically crippling lockdown until "at least" mid-April to stem coronavirus infections which may have claimed a world-leading 11,591 lives.
Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said any easing of containment measures will be done incrementally to ensure Italy does not quit gains it has made against the extraordinary disease.
The near three-week shutdown "have been very tough economically," Conte told Spain's El Pais newspaper.
"It cannot last very long," he said. "We are able to study ways (of lifting restrictions). Nonetheless it will have to be done gradually."
Health Minister Roberto Speranza later announced that "all containment measures would be extended at least until Easter" on April 12.
Business closures and a ban on public gatherings were to have expired on Friday.
'Flattening of the curve'
Italy was the first Western nation to impose sweeping restrictions to stem a pandemic which has claimed more than 36,000 lives worldwide.
Its own toll grew by 812 on Monday and the amount of infections reported by the civil protection service surpassed 100,000.
But fresh evidence also suggested that COVID-19 was spreading more slowly than when the first victim died in Italy on February 21.
The daily rate of new infections dropped to 4.1 percent -- a fraction of the 62 percent level registered per month ago.
The number of folks suffering from the illness at its epicenter in the northern Lombardy region also dropped for the very first time.
And the number of men and women who've recovered from COVID-19 over the nation of 60 million persons hit a fresh high.
"We saw 1,590 people recover during the past 24 hours," civil protection service chief Angelo Borrelli told reporters.
"This is the highest number of recoveries recorded since the start of pandemic."
Deputy Health Minister Pierpaolo Sileri said the most recent data showed that Italy might see "a drop in the number of people infected within seven to 10 days".
Italy's ISS public health institute chief Silvio Brusaferro also felt the infection rate was approaching its peak.
"We are witnessing a flattening of the curve," Brusaferro told the La Repubblica daily.
"There are no signs of a descent yet, but things are improving."
'Picture has improved a lot'
Health officials said just about the most encouraging figures was a drop from 25,392 on Sunday to 25,006 on Monday in the quantity of men and women in Lombardy testing positive for COVID-19.
The figure had grown consistently for more than a month.
"The picture has improved a whole lot over the past four days," Lombardy's chief medical officer Giulio Gallera said.
The latest data premiered nearly three weeks right into a national lockdown which has emptied cities and paralyzed most business activity.
Store and restaurant closures were reinforced the other day by a shutdown of "non-essential" factories.
Forecasts by several global banks and analysts point to Italian monetary output shrinking by seven percent this season.
Source: www.thejakartapost.com
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