Half of Italy under highest Covid alert ahead of Easter holidays

Rome, Mar 29 (efe-epa).- Ten regions in Italy were placed under the country’s highest level of coronavirus restrictions, the so-called red zone, on Monday as the whole nation prepares for another lockdown during the upcoming Easter holidays this week.

Tuscany, Calabria and Valle d’Aosta, together with Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Lombardy, Marche, Piedmont, Veneto, Apulia and the autonomous province of Trento, are now in the red zone, while Lazio and Rome on Tuesday will be placed in the second highest orange zone.

These alerts will remain in place until at least April 30.

In both the orange and red zones, bars and restaurants will remain closed and only home delivery is allowed, while gyms, swimming pools and spas remain closed, as well as museums, theaters and cinemas.

Despite the tough measures, international travel is still allowed, causing anger among the hospitality sector.

“I can’t leave my village, but I can fly to the Canaries: it’s absurd while 85 percent of Italian hotels are forced to remain locked up,” Bernabò Bocca, president of Federalberghi, the country’s hotel association, said in an interview on Monday in the “Corriere della Sera”.

“We do not understand how it is possible to authorize travel across regions to go to airports and go on vacation abroad and, instead, it is forbidden to travel within Italy,” Bocca said of the new regulations that give the green light for Easter vacations abroad. EFE-EPA

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