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by Crispian Balmer
ROME, December 24 (Reuters) – Italy on Thursday tightened health measures to deal with the resurgence of the coronavirus epidemic caused by the Delta variant, by banning any public New Year’s Eve celebration, as the daily number number of infections has reached an indefinite peak since the start of the crisis.
The wearing of a mask is once again compulsory outdoors, announced the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, calling on the population to use Ffp2 masks in public transport and closed places such as cinemas.
In addition, outdoor concerts and events are prohibited until January 31, when the nightclubs must remain closed.
These measures were announced after the latest daily report released by health authorities earlier in the day showed a record 44,595 new contaminations, an increase of 70% over one week.
The number of daily deaths is also on the rise, peaking since May.
The Italian government has also decided to reduce, from 1 February, the validity period of the health pass from nine to six months, while it wants to speed up the vaccine booster campaign against COVID-19: the interval between the end of the The initial vaccination schedule and the injection of the booster dose were reduced to four months, compared to five months so far. (Crispian Balmer report, with Giuseppe Fonte; French version Myriam Rivet and Jean Terzian)