Sardinia has become the first region in Italy to be classified as a “white zone”, meaning many coronavirus restrictions have been dropped, while other regions have been upgraded to ‘orange’ or ‘red’ zones amid a sharp rise in infections nationally.
From Monday, bars in Sardinia can stay open until 9pm and restaurants until 11pm, half-an-hour before a nightly curfew kicks-in. Elsewhere, the curfew begins at 10pm.
The obligatory wearing of face masks remains as do social distancing measures. Christian Solinas, the president of Sardinia, said if the situation progresses well over the next week, then gyms, swimming pools, cinemas and theatres could reopen.
“A white zone does not mean a ‘free all’ approach,” said Solinas. “Instead we need to use it as a motivation to continue observing the highest degree of responsibility.”
The island, which has a population of 1.6 million, registered 77 new infections on Sunday. Sardinia came under fire last summer for reopening nightclubs, which then prompted an increase in cases in other Italian regions due to returning holidaymakers.
Experts fear Italy, which registered 17,455 more infections on Sunday, is heading towards its third wave.
There were 192 more Covid-19-related fatalities on Sunday, bringing the total death toll to 97,699 – the highest in mainland Europe. Hospitalisations and admissions into intensive care have also been creeping up.
Health minister Roberto Speranza said on Monday that the coming weeks will be tough. “It would be nice to say that everything is over…but the truth is that the coming weeks will not be easy.”
Italy is striving to accelerate its vaccination programme, which has been hampered by delays in vaccine deliveries. At the same time, over one million vaccine doses have not been used. As of Monday, over 4.3 million had been vaccinated, of whom 1.4 million have received both doses.
“We have a vaccination campaign to step up in these weeks, and today the numbers are going in the right direction but they need to increase further, and at the same time we have a very strong epidemic,” added Speranza.
