Speaking to the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera on Sunday, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte made it clear that the national lockdown may be further eased earlier than planned.
"We will not be on the balcony this summer and the beauty of Italy will not remain in quarantine. We will be able to go to the sea, to the mountains, to enjoy our cities”, Conte said.
He suggested that it would be “nice” if Italians spent their holidays in their country, “even if we do it differently, with rules and cautions”.
At the same time, the prime minister warned that there will be “very difficult months” ahead as Italy faces “the toughest test since the post-war period”.
Conte predicted that Italy would “have a sharp fall in GDP [gross domestic product]” and that “the economic consequences will be very painful”.
“We’re gathering the data from the latest monitoring and with the experts we’re defining clear safety rules for workers and customers. If the situation remains under control on the epidemiological level, we’ll be able to agree some earlier moves with the regions”, he said when asked whether bars, restaurants, and hairdressers will reopen in Italy as of early June.
Separately, the PM urged the EU to ensure that resources from the bloc’s new recovery fund are available in the second half of 2020 so that it can shore up Italy’s coronavirus-hit economy.
Conte Announces Partial Lockdown Lift Starting 4 May
The remarks come after Conte’s decision in late April to partially ease the lockdown starting 4 May, with shops due to reopen on 18 May and bars, restaurants, and barbers slated to begin operating again on 1 June.
“We will [also] allow access to parks, villas, and public gardens but with absolute respect for social distancing rules and only with a limited number of entries. From 4 May it will be possible to do physical activities not only next to the home but also further away, but a distance of at least 2 metres must be observed in dynamic sports activities”, according to him.
The ban on assembly will remain in place both for public and private places, Conte said, stressing that for physical activity the rule of social distancing would be at least one metre.
The statement followed Italy’s Civil Protection Department reporting on 27 April 260 coronavirus-related deaths over the past 24 hours, at the time, the lowest number of daily fatalities registered in the country since 14 March. As of Saturday, the number of COVID-19 cases in Italy has increased to a total of 217,185, with 30,201 deaths, according to the World Health Organisation’s situation updates.