Coronavirus in Italy: record 993 deaths, the most in one day since the start of the pandemic

Italy recorded this Thursday his worst daily death toll since the start of the pandemic with 993 deaths in 24 hours, at a time when the country is embroiled in the debate over the strong restrictions the government plans to impose to limit travel to Christmas.

According to data from the Ministry of Health, on the last day of their count 23,225 infections, about 10% of total tests done in the last 24 hours. With this the coronavirus already going to Italy 1,664,829 confirmed infections and 58,038 deaths since the first case was detected at the end of February.

The measures that the Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte will sign in the next few hours and will come into effect from this Friday, they have generated an embarrassment, especially among the regional presidents, annoyed not to have been consulted in advance, so they showed their “stupor” after having discussed with the boss of the executive.

The government raised the ban on travel between regions between December 21 and January 6, while on December 25 and 26 and January 1, it will also be prohibited to travel between municipalities, except for professional requirements or for health reasons.

In addition, The current curfew will be maintained (between 10:00 p.m. and 5:00 a.m.), although on New Years Eve it will last until 7:00 a.m. on January 1. As for stores, they can open until 9:00 p.m., except on public holidays, and malls will close on weekends.

Restaurants can stay open on public holidays until 6 p.m., while in hotels it will only be possible to offer room service to guests after this time. Italians will also not be able to move into their second residence during the Christmas period.

Vaccinate everyone between the “second and third trimester 2021”

On the other hand, the extraordinary emergency commissioner, Domenico Arcuri, said that Italy could have has completed the vaccination of its entire population “between the second and the third quarter of 2021”.

“The vaccine distribution and supply plan is practically ready (…) When there are vaccines, we will be ready,” he said.

Wednesday the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, had indicated that the government was planning free and voluntary vaccination of citizens, starting with groups at risk and hoping to achieve “group immunity”.

He also stressed that the plan is to acquire more than 200 million doses, more than enough to immunize the entire Italian population.