PM Conte heckled over not wearing mask

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Monday was heckled during a parliamentary hearing for not wearing his mask during his speech on the easing of restrictions.

Conte was interrupted with shouts of "mask" by several MPs after he removed his to give an address.

Both Conte and the lower chamber speaker, Roberto Fico, explained that the government seats are enough distance from MPs' seats and therefore speaking without a mask is allowed.

The League and Brothers of Italy right wing opposition party also argued the government was not involving parliament enough in issuing heavy emergency measures to contain the pandemic, such as the lockdown of all non-essential economic activities and the closing of schools.

The Italian prime minister confirmed that the easing of the lockdown must be gradual to avoid an exponential increase of the infection that could saturate the intensive care unit beds within the end of the year.

Italy currently has 203,591 confirmed cases and 27,682 reported deaths according to Johns Hopkins University.