Italy enters Christmas blockade in signs of resurrection

Rome – Italian police aimed to limit Christmas gatherings involving distant families as public health officials called for a “significant reduction” in social contact to prevent new infections during the holidays. Enforced new COVID-19 travel restrictions.

The amended national blockade came into effect on Christmas Eve, with restrictions and closures similar to the 10-week hard blockade enforced by the Italian government from March to May, when Italy became the center of the coronavirus epidemic in Europe. It was done.

Aim from December 24th to January. According to official counts, the six slowdown is to prevent a resurgence in January after the fall wave of coronavirus infection killed more people than it did during the country’s first spring outbreak. The total number of confirmed cases in Italy exceeded 2 million on Thursday, but an additional 505 deaths caused 70,900 official national casualties in a pandemic. This is the most common in Europe.

Despite the new restrictions, Italians shopped at bakeries, fish markets and grocery stores at the last minute and prepared dinner on Christmas Eve. This is a multi-course, multi-generational event that has traditionally been a staple of Italian family holidays.

In Italy, which has been under local regulation since early November, the exponential increase in infection has been seen slowly since then. However, the Ministry of Health’s latest weekly surveillance report, released Thursday, suggested that the downtrend was at a standstill.

The ministry warned that hospitals could still be overwhelmed and called for “significant reductions in physical interactions” among non-relatives. The government has called on Italians to limit Christmas Eve’s “Senon” dinners to two or less. Do not share the same household.

“It seems mediocre and you can ask,’Why are there only two people outside the nuclear family?'” Admitted Dr. Giovanni Rezza, a preventive officer at the Italian Ministry of Health. “But it’s clearly based on probability calculations. The larger the rally, the more likely it is that one of these people will get infected, especially if they come from elsewhere. Other people.”

To reduce that possibility, the government has banned residents from traveling from region to region since Monday. Police were dispatched on Thursday to confirm that Italians on the road were following rules restricting travel within their area.

Colonel Carabinieri Alessand Rodminichi, patroling in front of the Colosseum in Rome, said sanctions ranged from € 400 to € 3,000 ($ 488 to $ 3,700) and could increase for multiple crimes.

Residents also had to carry a police-issued certificate explaining why they were outside, with other necessities such as work, medical care, and grocery shopping permitted.

However, Christmas Eve grocery stores have turned out to be crowded because they are so common at this time of the year. Roman shoppers lined up outside the market to pick up pre-ordered fish that form the backbone of traditional holiday meals in much of Southern Italy. The bakery has a vigorous business selling powdered sugar-coated “Panettone” dried fruitcakes and pale yellow “Pandoro” cakes, which are a staple of Christmas desserts.

“Yesterday, there were 900 people in the fish counter,” said Daniela Tufoni, who works in a supermarket in Rome.

Tufoni said police officers pulled her on Thursday to confirm that she had a good reason to go out. “It’s good that they do these checks, but when they go to the supermarket, they don’t know what they find. No one respects the distance,” she said from the car. ..

The Catholic Church has moved the midnight time of Mass up a few hours so that believers can comply with the curfew at 10 pm. Pope Francis planned to celebrate his Christmas alert service starting at 7:30 pm in front of a small group of St. Peter’s Basilica.

Non-essential shops, restaurants and bars have been closed. Milan’s glass-enclosed Galleria Mall was almost empty, shops along the normally crowded Via del Corso in Rome were closed, and pigeons had Piazza San Marco in Venice.

Restaurants and shops will get some grace to reopen for the next few days. It will then close again before the Epiphany holiday on January 6th, which marks the end of the New Year and blockade period.

The Italian government is particularly concerned about the continued high demand for beds in both the intensive care unit and the regular ward dedicated to COVID-19 patients. Nationally, Italian hospitals remain within government-established benchmarks that less than 30% of ICU beds and 40% of non-ICU beds are dedicated to viral patients.

Authorities aim to keep COVID-19 hospitalizations below these thresholds and allow patients with other medical needs to receive treatment. Areas that are well above the benchmark are under stricter restrictions to reduce infectious diseases and associated hospitalizations.

Italy will join other European Union countries with the first dose of COVID-19 vaccine on Sunday, with healthcare professionals and nursing home residents scheduled to fire first.

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Contributed by AP visual journalist Luigi Navarro.