Tag Archive for: italy

THE CURRENT COVID-19 SITUATION IN CAMPANIA, ITALY

JUNE 21/06/2021

 

  • MINIMUM RISK WHITE ZONES

Following various changes regarding Italy’s anti-COVID colour-coded tier system changing from high-risk red zones to orange and yellow, the Campania region (amongst others) will finally be classified as a lowest-risk white zone as of June 21st 2021.  The monitoring report was presented last Friday (June 18th 2021) after being examined by the Italian Government’s COVID-19 taskforce.  All of Italy’s regions and autonomous provinces will now be considered as low risk except for Valle d’Aosta, which is considered as moderate risk – remaining classed as a yellow zone.

The health minister Roberto Speranza signed the latest ordinance thanks to the decrease in infections.  The Campania region has recorded an incidence of infection lower than 50 for the last three weeks.  Both the proportion of Italy’s intensive-care places occupied by COVID19 patients and ordinary hospital-ward beds at a national level are currently at 6%.  No Italian region is currently placed above the critical threshold of 30%.

 

  • NIGHT-TIME CURFEW

One of the major changes when the white zone enters into force will be the end of the night-time curfew – with no restrictions regarding travel to other white zones and no time limits to return home.  Justification is not necessary if travelling nationally but specific restrictions must be respected.

 

  • EUDCC Digital COVID Certificate – GREEN PASS

If travelling throughout national territory you must be in possession of a “Green Pass”.  The “Certificazione Verde” website enables travellers to request the digital certification in English, French and German and is designed to facilitate travel.

In order to claim the Green Pass it is necessary to provide one of the following: certification of full vaccination, details of recovery from COVID19 or a recent test resulting negative.

Consult online: www.cg.gov.it / www.salute.gov.it , Pharmacies or Doctor. The certification is available in both paper and digital versions containing a QR code and is completely free of charge.

The EU Digital COVID Certificate (EUDCC) will allow travel throughout the European Union as from July 1st.

Gatherings remain prohibited and social-distancing remains necessary.

Bars and restaurants will finally be able to remain open without having to respect time restrictions.  Indoor tables are limited to 4 seated guests with the only exception of cohabitants.

 

  • FACE MASKS

The use of protective face masks remains obligatory both indoors and outdoors throughout Italy.

Following numerous debates, the Italian Government plans to drop this obligation but there are still no precise indications.

Changes are expected regarding outdoor use as of June 28th but use will still be necessary in any crowded situations, queues, public transport, bars and restaurants if not seated and indoors.

 

The Italian Higher Health Institute (ISS) president Silvio Brusaferro quoted that the infection curve has resulted amongst the lowest in the EU and many zones have no viral cases with some regions reporting cases coming from abroad.

Chief Health Minister Gianni Rezza commented that the situation is “very good, but the epidemic isn’t over yet”

MARCH 09/03/2021   The colour-coded tier system was updated including higher Covid-19 restrictions last February 21st throughout Italy

Many regions changed classification from lower-risk yellow zones to medium-risk orange zones including Campania, Naples.The Campania region is currently classified as a high-risk red zone, together with Basilicata and Molise.

It is predicted that numerous regions will follow – updating from medium-risk orange to red – considered as a high level of risk with a scenario of maximum severity.

Italy’s health minister Roberto Speranza signed the recent order based upon a weekly report provided by the Higher Health Institute (ISS) involving increasing concerns about widespread circulation of new and more transmissible variants.

The latest Dpcm Ministerial Decree was signed by Speranza and the Prime Minister Draghi on March 2nd 2021 to combat and contain the virus emergency – to be respected from March 6th to April 6th 2021.
The new restrictive measures confirm numerous urgent provisions already in force for containment of contagion throughout the national territory and introduce a number of new measures.
The colour-coded tier system classifying Italy into white, yellow, orange and red zones has been confirmed and will be updated according to levels of risk.

  • Face masks are obligatory – indoors and outdoors. Children under six years of age are exempt.
  • Social-distancing of at least 1-metre is still in act.
  • The travel ban between regions is confirmed until March 27th 2021. Travel motivated by proven work requirements or health reasons is permitted as is returning to one’s residence.
  • The nationwide night-time curfew from 10 pm to 5 am has also been confirmed.
  • All schools within red zones are now closed.
  • Any form of crowding is prohibited.
  • Visiting relatives or friends or travel to second homes is NOT allowed (even within your own municipality)
  • Throughout orange and red zones catering services are suspended but take-away and delivery is permitted until 10 pm. In all areas Bars and Café’s are available for take-away services until 6 pm only.
  • Throughout red zones any retail/commercial activity is suspended except for necessary foodstuffs and Pharmacies.
  • The national State of Emergency has been extended to April 30th 2021.

Please note: Italian authorities may impose, extend or further tighten any restrictions with little-to-no-notice – in response to developments regarding the Covid-19 strain.

Rules of conduct in case of any symptoms or doubts about health conditions:
If you have any symptoms such as fever (over 37.5°), breathing difficulty or coughing – stay at home and limit all contacts.  Do NOT go to the hospital or Doctor but call your local Guardia Medica or contact the regional or toll-free numbers:
Information line from Italy 1500
From abroad +39 02 32008345/ 02 89619015
Campania region 800 90 96 99
Use the national emergency numbers 112/118 only if strictly necessary

© MY COUNTRY MAGAZINE – NAPLES, ITALY (MARCH 2021)

Latest update 09/03/2021

Latest Covid-19 situation in Italy
*updated: March 15th 2021

As expected, the health minister Speranza has signed the latest decree classifying the regions of Lazio, Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia, Veneto, Piemonte, Puglia, Marche and the province of Trento as high-risk red zones from today March 15th 2021 (Campania and Molise remain classed as red)
The regions of Abruzzo, Calabria, Tuscania, Liguria, Puglia, Sicilia, Umbria, the Aosta valley and province of Bolzano are now classed as medium-risk orange zones. Sardegna remains categorized as the only lowest-risk white zone.
Current restrictions will remain in place until Easter weekend when the the whole country (except Sardegna) will be classed as high-risk red – even though April 3rd, 4th and 5th will supposedly include the possibility to visit relatives or friends – once per day.
Since the Covid-19 pandemic swept over Italy one year ago, over 100,000 people have died – prompting long lockdowns and forming what may be regarded as the worst recession since WWII. Tightened restrictions in force throughout red zones have also ordered all schools to close and obviously residents have been asked to leave home only for necessary reasons.

Over 6.2 million Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered throughout Italy as of March 12th 2021. It is important to underline that two doses are necessary for the vaccine to be fully effective. So, basically just 1.9 million people in Italy can now be considered as being fully protected against the virus. Obviously this situation and various solutions with a new vaccine programme are at the top-of-the-list – and hopefully a rapid exit from the pandemic.
If you are interested about vaccine news and so much more – then why not take a look at some real details and interesting views from our friend Susan Levenstein MD – “The straight dope on Italian health and medical care” on her active blog www.stethoscopeonrome.com 

(That’s also the frequently highlighted book – Dottoressa An American Doctor in Rome)

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Over the years, My Country magazine has frequently highlighted the charming isle of Procida.

Procida is the oldest and smallest of the three fascinating isles situated on the Gulf of Naples.

 

Read more

Many have seized the chance to return to the sands, soak up the sun and take a swim. But social distancing? Maybe, maybe not.

GIUGLIANO IN CAMPANIA, Italy – The lifeguard turned his back to the water and looked for danger on the sand. All around him at the beach club west of Naples, children on their stomachs dug moats while adults reclined on beach chairs, catching rays, eating stuffed shells and reconnecting with friends on the first Sunday back at the beach after a monthslong lockdown. Some maintained the new social-distancing restrictions. Some did not.
As the temperatures rise, sun-starved Europeans are desperate to get to the beach and tourism-starved Mediterranean countries are desperate to have them. In Greece, the government is trying to negotiate an “air bridge” from Britain, with promises of 40 bathers per 1,000 square meters and disinfected chairs. The Spanish are trying to convince Germany to send tourists their way, while Baltic Sea resorts, which had a far less severe epidemic than Spain, are trying to poach them.
But it is Italy, which endured one of Europe’s worst outbreaks, that is most counting on the economically restorative powers of its beaches and seas. Tourism accounts for 13 percent of Italy’s gross domestic product, and 40 percent of that is from beach activity. Officials and beach club owners have expressed hope that foreign tourists will spend time and money in their country when the borders reopen in June. But in the meantime, it is the Italians who must pick up the sunbathing slack.
On May 18, the national government, citing the dipping curve ofinfections, allowed Italian regions to reopen beach clubs. Different regions have reacted with varying degrees of caution. Tuscany allowed them to reopen on May 18, Campania on May 23, Lazio on May 29, and Sicily on June 6. But the national government also said that any sharp rise in new infections would prompt another lockdown, and the mayor of one small town in the southern region of Puglia closed the beaches this week after seeing an “invasion” of sunbathers, many, he said, “wearing their masks as necklaces.” Italians have been waiting to get back to the beach for months and have obsessed over their summer prospects essentially since the lockdown began in March.
In the Italian news media, detailed graphics and videos regularly illustrated the possible restrictions and proposed bathing innovations.
There were the rows of plexiglass cubicles – each holding an umbrella and recliners, or entry gates that sprayed disinfectant on bathers like cars entering a carwash, or a village of eco-friendly bamboo and fabric beach huts. (“We were in Mongolia for many years,” the architect explained.) None caught on.
Salvatore Trinchillo, the third-generation owner of the Lido Varca d’Oro club in Giugliano in Campania, said that the plexiglass cubes were only ever promoted by “a guy who makes plexiglass” and would “turn sunbathers into rotisserie chickens.” Instead, Mr. Trinchillo, who is also the vice president of Italy’s union of beach club presidents, opted for more traditional arrangements, with more room between the umbrellas and lounge chairs. The people around the pasta and coffee bars wore masks and those who wanted to eat in the outdoor restaurant had their foreheads scanned with a thermometer.
Campania’s latest measures were adopted once again when Vincenzo De Luca, the governor, perhaps best known during the coronavirus outbreak for threatening to take a “blowtorch” to illegal gatherings and for calling his citizens “doubly imbeciles” for bothering to wear masks but then letting them hang around their necks, decided that infections had gone down enough for beach clubs to open. The region also allowed bathers to remove their masks on the beach, as long as they observed social-distancing measures.
One client described herself as a year-round beach enthusiast.
And she said that after months of going stir crazy in her nearby home, the opening of the beaches and the ability to stare out at the hazy island of Ischia was “a mercy from God.” “We all got fat!” she added, referring to the “quarantine kilos” she said she had put on. Mr. Trinchillo agreed that “everyone is a little chubbier” and said through a mask that he was delighted to finally see people back on the beach. To observe social-distancing measures, he had to reduce his beach-chair capacity to 1,200 from 2,000. He also created broader corridors for people to pass through and spaced his chairs out even more than required by the region.
Yet there remained a dense and vibrant forest of orange umbrellas.
As he took it in, Mr. Trinchillo said more exclusive and expensive beach clubs in the region, such as on the Amalfi Coast or on the island of Capri, spots known for their crystalline waters, coves and rocky cliffs, “were now jealous of us” because they lacked the space for proper distancing and could not open. “Life is bizarre,” he said. At the Lido Varca d’Oro, people didn’t seem so few or far away. A toddler with goggles and a face mask the colors of the Italian flag scampered into the sea, next to a circle of adults with their bare faces pointed up at the sun.
Since Italy eased its lockdown, the country’s mayors have wrestled with crowds drawn to newly reopened bars, but also to its boardwalks and beaches. At the beach on Sunday, policing duties often fell to the club’s staff “I ask people if they are relatives or friends,” said one of the club employees. He said that people were generally behaving then he turned and excused himself. “See over there? I have to go and remind them that assemblies are banned.”
He walked toward the part of the beach where two cousins from Naples were spending the afternoon sun bathing with small children playing in the sand.
“Feel this air, smell the sea, it’s safer out here.. It’s freedom”

Original Text Source: New York Times International Edition
Published: May 27, 2020
Full reportage by: Jason Horowitz

Source © My Country magazine – Naples, Italy  (JULY 2020 PAGE 4)