Restrictions needed to stop us being crushed by ‘virus train’ says Conte

Giuseppe Conte said Friday that his government’s new three-tier restrictions system, which has put four Italian regions in soft lockdowns, was needed to stop the nation being overwhelmed by the spread of COVID-19.

The system has been criticised by the governors of the ‘red-zone’ high-contagion-risk regions – Calabria, Lombardy, Piedmont and Val d’Aosta. “The virus is a moving train,” Conte said at the Corriere della Sera Food Festival.

“Today it is necessary to slow it down, otherwise the train will knock us down. “We are hopeful that these measures will be limited to several weeks. “If we manage to contain contagion we can face the weeks that await is with a degree of serenity”. Commenting on the criticism from the red-zone governors, Conte said “we are not handing out slaps, there is no desire to punish anyone”. Lombardy Governor Attilio Fontana described the measures as a slap in the face of the people of Lombardy. Conte added that his cabinet on Friday will approve a second package of aid for the sectors affected by the government’s restrictions on top of a five-billion-euro package recently approved. (ANSA).