Coronavirus: Italy set to lift travel restrictions as infection rate decreases

Amid the unprecedented outbreak of deadly coronavirus, Italy is set to lift the strict travel restrictions as other lockdown measures are also eased due to a decrease in the number of coronavirus infections. According to international reports, Italy’s government has signed a decree that will permit travel to and from the country from June 3. This also marks a major step towards life coming back to normal in the country that has the third-highest death toll of COVID-19 disease in the world after the US and the UK. Even though Italy still has 72,070 active cases of coronavirus and has reported over 31,600 deaths, the infection rate has drastically fallen in recent days. 

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Italy was also the first country in Europe to have imposed restrictions in the wake of the global health crisis and had emerged as a virus hotspot. After being under strict lockdown for at least two months, the measures were allowed to ease earlier this month. On May 4, Italy’s government had allowed the factories to resume its operations and parks were open for the public. Shops, restaurants, and Catholic churches are also due to open on May 18 only if they follow social distancing rules. 

According to reports the latest decree was signed by Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and was published on May 16. Since some Italian regions were calling for more restrictions to be eased and fast, Conte has said that the lifting of lockdown would happen gradually in a bid to avoid the second wave of novel virus infections.

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Steepest quarterly drop in 25 years

As countries across the globe continue to bear the impact of the deadly coronavirus outbreak, preliminary data has revealed that Italy’s economy plunged by 4.7 per cent in just the first quarter of 2020. Being one of the worst affected countries of COVID-19 outbreak, Italy’s lockdown resulted in the biggest quarterly collapse in its economy in at least 25 years. 

According to national statistics bureau ISTAT, the fall in Italy’s Gross Domestic Product in a quarter was the steepest since the current series had begun in 1995. This has reportedly left the third-largest economy in the eurozone in the recession which also witnessed a decline of 0.3 per cent in the last quarter of 2019. ISTAT also said that if the GDP is calculated on a year-on-year basis, the first quarter declined by 4.8 per cent.

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Image Source: AP