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The increase in infections recorded in recent weeks has prompted the government to adopt new measures in addition to the Prime Ministerial Decree of 2 March to try to contain the spread of the pandemic. On 12 March the Council of Ministers therefore approved a new decree law, in force from Monday 15 March until 6 April.
The goal is to face the variants of the coronavirus more decisively, waiting for the new vaccination plan to go live. The decree effectively sanctioned the end of the yellow zone (or at least of the freedoms granted in those areas) and the arrival of the red zone almost everywhere for the Easter holidays.
On the other hand, the total lockdown was averted, unlike what some online newspapers initially feared. But what does the new provision provide in detail and what can be done during the Easter holidays? Let’s try to clarify.
The yellow zone becomes the orange zone
“In consideration of the greater diffusion of the virus and its variants and in view of the Easter holidays, in order to further limit the possible occasions of contagion, the provision establishes measures of greater intensity than those already in force”, reads the release by the Council of Ministers, announcing “the application, in the territories in the yellow zone, of the measures currently envisaged for the orange zone”.
The “automatic” red zone
The decree also established:
- the application of the measures currently envisaged for the red zone to the Regions, identified by order of the Minister of Health, in which there is a cumulative weekly incidence of infections exceeding 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, regardless of the other parameters referring to the color of the area (thus making the transition to the red zone in these cases automatic and no longer at the discretion of the Regions);
- the right for the Presidents of the Regions and Autonomous Provinces of Trento and Bolzano to apply the measures envisaged for the red zone, or further motivated more restrictive measures among those envisaged by the decree-law of 25 March 2020, n. 19, in the Provinces where there is a cumulative weekly incidence of infections exceeding 250 cases per 100,000 inhabitants or in areas where the circulation of variants of SARS-CoV-2 determines a high risk of diffusivity or induces serious disease.
Red zone at Easter, what can be done
Regarding the Easter holidays, “on April 3, 4 and 5, 2021, the measures established for the red zone will be applied throughout the national territory, with the exception of the Regions or Autonomous Provinces whose territories are located in the white zone. On these days, in the areas affected by the restrictions, travel to other inhabited private homes will be possible only once a day, between 5.00 and 22.00, remaining within the same Region ”.
It is therefore an exception, compared to what is established in the Prime Ministerial Decree of 2 March, which prohibits travel even towards homes for the red areas.
Limit to travel even in the yellow and orange area
Regarding travel to other private homes, the press release on the government website explains: “From March 15 to April 2 and April 6, 2021, in the yellow and orange areas, it will be possible to go to other inhabited private homes only once a day. , between 5.00 and 22.00, remaining within the same Municipality. A maximum of two people can be moved, who will still be able to bring with them children under 14 (or other children under 14 over whom the same people exercise parental authority) and people with disabilities or non self-sufficient living together “.
Closed schools, parental leave
The decree also provides for “in cases of suspension of school activities or of infection or quarantine of children, for dependent working parents the possibility of taking advantage of partially paid leave and, for self-employed workers, the forces of the security, defense and public rescue sectors, law enforcement agencies and health workers, the possibility of opting for a contribution for the payment of babysitting services, until 30 June 2021 ″.
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