Italy has acted like much of Europe is increasing the curbs to try to weather a new wave of the pandemic. (File)
Roman:
Italy on Wednesday tightened its grip on those who don’t want to get vaccinated against COVID, drastically limiting access to a range of services and mandating vaccinations for a broad group of workers in the region. public sector.
Italy has acted like much of Europe is increasing restrictions to try to cope with the new wave of the pandemic.
Under the Italian measures, which will come into effect from December 6, unvaccinated people will not be able to enter places such as cinemas, restaurants and sporting events, the government of Prime Minister Mario Draghi said in a statement.
Mr. Draghi told reporters after the cabinet approved the new regulations: “We are seeing the situation in the bordering countries as very serious and we also see that the situation in Italy is gradual but keeps getting worse.
“We want to be extremely cautious in trying to defend what the Italians have achieved in the past year,” said Draghi, emphasizing the need to avoid a full-scale attack against the coronavirus in 2020 already. caused Italy’s worst post-war economic recession.
The government has extended the mandatory vaccinations, which have come into effect for healthcare workers, to all school, police and military personnel, starting December 15.
In addition, a third dose of the vaccine, known as a “booster,” which is currently available to people over 40, will be made available to everyone over 18.
Measures tighten requirements for a Green Card, a certificate that gives vaccinated people access to various recreational activities and services, to exclude those who have received a negative test result in Last 48 hours but not vaccinated against COVID-19.
Most of these steps have been widely anticipated following comments made by ministers in recent days, but in a surprise move the government has also decided to make Green Cards mandatory for use on vehicles. urban public transport.
This will be a challenge to enforce, given the rush hour traffic of Italy’s buses and supermarkets. To access public transport, the government said, the Green Pass will be for those who test negative, not just those who have been vaccinated.
(Except for the title, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from an aggregated feed.)
