Due to rising cases of COVID-19, new restrictions are being implemented in Italy from next week. While schools, shops and restaurants will be closed in more than half of Italy, residents will be required to stay home except for work, health or other essential reasons. Over the Easter weekend from 3-5 April, the whole country would be turned into the high-risk ‘red zone.

Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi has warned of a ‘new wave’ of the coronavirus outbreak. He said while he is aware that restrictions will have consequences on the education of children, on the economy and on everyone's mental health, they are necessary to avoid worsening of the situation. Cases have been rising across Italy for the past six weeks, exceeding 25,000 a day.

Italy's vaccination campaign has also been hit by delays and last week the Italian government had blocked the export of two lakh fifty thousand doses of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine to Australia in a bid to address shortfalls of vaccines.