Italy is now labelled as a ‘’White Zone’ for the COVID-19 virus, thus allowing its residents to take off their face masks.
ITALY – The number of COVID-19 cases are significantly decreasing in Italy with just 7 COVID-19 cases reported per 100,000 people. Just last year, Italy was in the list of countries that had the most number of COVID cases. However this year, on the 28th of June, the country announced that people no longer will coerce face masks when outdoors. The tremendous decrease in the number of COVID-19 cases in the country was impressive. Medical experts analyzed the country’s situation and labelled Italy as a COVID 19 ‘’White Zone‘’. The places which are labelled as COVID-19 white zones have low restrictions and the chances of contracting the virus in those particular places are rare.
With Italian government’s announcement to lift up restrictions, Health minister, Roberto Speranza in a tweet said, “With the order I just signed, all of Italy will be in the white area starting Monday. It’s an encouraging result, but caution and caution still needed, especially in light of the new variations. The battle is not yet won.”
Impact on businesses and tourism
For people living in Italy this news was surely a delight. The country previously had strict restrictions, people were not allowed to meet each other. They used to wear face masks at all times under strict lockdown. People are now glad as the restrictions are lifted and they can get back to their normal lives. The economy, tourism and business sector of the country will also benefit a lot from this decision. Tourism makes a 12% contribution to Italy’s GDP and now that country is in White Zone, tourism in the country might just take off again.
Things are now much better for Italy. However, health authorities are still concerned about COVID-19 since Italy faced drastic situations in the past year. Around 4.25 million people contracted the COVID-19 virus out of which 127,291 died. Health authorities are still warning people so that they can prevent the history to repeat.
Yellow Zone
The lifting up of COVID-19 restrictions applies to people living in all places of Italy except for the ‘‘Aosta Valley‘’. The valley is located in the north west of the country. Aosta Valley is still recording a high number of COVID cases and is still included in the ‘Yellow zone‘’ by health officials.
While wearing a mask is no longer compulsory, Italy’s health minister still emphasized that people need to wear masks in crowded places.
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