Italy’s government has extended the ban on travel between its 20 regions until March 27 due to the upsurge in the number of Coronavirus infections.
The announcement has been revealed by the country’s Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s through an approved decree and aims to put an end to the further spread of the disease, which as yet has infected over 2,818,860 persons in Italy, making the country the eight most affected one worldwide, SchnegenVisaInfo.com reports.
Italy’s past government’s nationwide bans were set to expire on Thursday; however, authorities in Italy have not been convinced that the restrictions could be eased after taking into account the pandemic situation in their territory and other countries.
“It is essential to continue with the restrictions with the (spread of coronavirus) variants,” the country’s Health Minister, Roberto Speranza, pointed out in this regard.
Some towns and villages are currently placed on the COVID-19 red list, meaning that these territories are highly affected by the spread of the pandemic; therefore, there are imposed the tightest restrictions to prevent the further spread of the deadly disease.
The Coronavirus pandemic has profoundly affected the travel and tourism sector, which is looking to find alternative solutions in order to recover from the current situation.
Last month, the European Commission allocated €73.02 million aid for one of the most famous Italian airlines, Alitalia, following the European Union State aid rules.
Back in December, despite the pandemic, Alitalia and the US’s airline Delta Air Lines announced that they would carry on flights from the US to Italy without obliging passengers to follow quarantine rules. The agreement created the first corridor to make such links between Europe and the EU in March 2020, when restrictions were introduced for the first time.
As yet, 95,992 persons have died from the Coronavirus pandemic in Italy, while 2,334,968 persons have been recovered.
In order to facilitate the travel, Italy’s National Federation of Travel and Tourism Industry urged the country’s government to follow the example of many European countries and launch a digital vaccination passport, which would ease the travelling process for all persons who have taken the vaccine against the coronavirus pandemic.
Up to this point, the following countries backed the idea of launching a vaccination passport, Czechia, Denmark, Greece, Hungary, Estonia, Portugal, Cyprus, Italy, Iceland, Poland, Spain and Sweden, as well as the International Air Transport Association (IATA).