Italy sets tough curbs for Christmas, New Year holidays

Rome, Dec 4 : In an effort to prevent a third wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Italy has imposed tough restrictions for the upcoming Christmas and New Year holidays, which will include a ban on inter-regional travel and a nationwide curfew on December 31.
The restrictions were approved in a cabinet decree passed on Thursday, and will come into force between from Friday to January 15, 2021, reports Xinhua news agency.
Different rules would last variously within this timeframe.
At a press conference on Thursday evening, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said that the new tough restrictions were necessary because the country, one of the worst-hit in Europe, still had a long way ahead in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic.
“We have to wait for the vaccine plan to be operative; we have to wait for the monoclonal treatments,” he said.
“All of this will come with the next year, but it is clear this will be a Christmas unlike any others.”