The Italian government allowed regional authorities on Tuesday to decide on their own whether to reopen local small- and medium-sized businesses, including hairdressers, bars and retail shops, as the country gradually loosens coronavirus-related restrictions
ROME (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th May, 2020) The Italian government allowed regional authorities on Tuesday to decide on their own whether to reopen local small- and medium-sized businesses, including hairdressers, bars and retail shops, as the country gradually loosens coronavirus-related restrictions.
The agreement was reached during a video conference between the regional presidents and Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and the ministers of health and regional affairs.
Thus, retail stores, hairdressers, beauty salons as well as restaurants and bars may open in Italy beginning on Monday. Restaurants and other public places at the same time would have to observe strict social distancing rules. Under the previous plans, all these businesses were to resume starting on June 1.
According to Il Sole 24 Ore newspaper, the cabinet will come up with instructions and guidelines based on the Health Ministry's data in the coming days. By Thursday, the ministry will publish regional data related to the pandemic, including the daily numbers of those infected; the basic reproduction rate; and the number of intensive care patients and other indicators. Notably, Italy's reproduction rate, which indicates the number of new infections generated by one disease case, has fallen below one.
Should the situation worsen, the government will reimpose restrictions on businesses.
A number of Italian regions have already lifted the restrictions. The southern region of Calabria, for instance, reopened the catering sector back on April 30, forcing the central government to challenge the decision in court.
As of Monday, Italy updated its COVID-19 tally by 744 cases, which is another record low, to a total of 219,814. The death toll has risen by 179 to 30,739. The number of patients in intensive care has dropped below 1,000, compared to 4,000 in early April.
