ROME, Apr 2 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Italy will remain under a nationwide anti-COVID-19 lock-down until Apr 13, Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, said, in a televised press conference on Wednesday evening.
The announcement came just two days before the current lock-down, which started on Mar 10, was due to end on Apr 3 (tomorrow).
“We have surpassed 13,000 deaths, and this is a wound that pains us especially — it is a wound that will never heal,” Conte said.
“So we are not in a condition to relax our restrictive measures yet … and this is why I just signed a new decree that extends the current measures to Apr 13,” he continued, adding, “We are beginning to see the positive effects” of the lock-down and that relaxing it now would mean that the sacrifices made so far would have been in vain.
“This additional effort will allow us to begin to assess future prospects,” Conte noted. “When the (scientific) data consolidate… we will begin to programme a gradual loosening of the restrictions.”
“I cannot tell you when that will be,” Conte admitted.
He explained that once the lock-down is over, there will be a “Phase Two” followed by “Phase Three.”
“Phase Two is when we coexist with the virus and can adopt measures that gradually loosen the restrictions,” he explained.
“After that we will be in Phase Three, which is when the emergency will be over, and we will resume our working and social lives,” Conte said.
“Phase Three is the phase of reconstruction and the relaunch of our social and economic lives,” the prime minister said.
