The central region of Abruzzo went into lockdown on Wednesday after being classed as one of Italy’s red zones of high COVID-19 contagion risk.
The southern region of Puglia looks set to be bumped up to red soon too.
The government has introduced a three-tier system of restrictions based on a region’s COVID risk: yellow, orange and red. At the moment, Campania, Tuscany, Calabria, Lombardy, Piedmont and Val d’Aosta are red, plus the autonomous province of Bolzano.
Umbria, Basilicata, Liguria, Puglia, Sicily, Emilia Romagna, Friuli Venezia Giulia and Marche are orange zones and face slight less stringent restrictions.
The rest of the country is moderate risk – yellow.
The conference of Italian regions on Tuesday called on the government to use just five criteria to decide what tier a region should be in, rather than the current 21, but Health Minister Roberto Speranza and the Higher Health Institute (ISS) are against making this change.
Read more via ANSA
