As COVID-19 cases rise again in Italy the government has insisted a second lockdown will not be necessary.
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Italy's government has insisted it will not impose a new lockdown despite a surge in coronavirus infections, as it sought to reassure citizens over the risk of a second wave of cases.
In an interview with Italian newspaper La Stampa, health minister Roberto Speranza said that he remained optimistic about Italy's ability to keep the situation under control.
The minister also stressed that the current scenario is not comparable to that observed at the peak of the pandemic in February and March, when the number of daily fatalities and infections were substantially higher.
Italy has been one of the worst-hit countries globally, with more than 35,400 victims so far, but has managed to contain the outbreak thanks to its stringent quarantine rules.
Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza, left, and key government adviser on the pandemic Dr Franco Locatelli. AP Photo / Roberto Monaldo
"We won't have a new lockdown," Speranza said, also noting that "our national health service has become much stronger".
The prospect of new quarantine measures is worrying Italian citizens and business owners hit hard by two months of strict lockdown, which brought Italy's already fragile economy to its knees. Italy on Saturday reported 1071 new infections, topping 1000 daily cases for the first time since mid-May, when the Italian government started easing the lockdown gradually.
The latest data confirmed a significant increase in contagions, with experts blaming holidaymakers returning from high-risk destinations and large gatherings of people enjoying the nightlife at the peak of the summer season.
The rise in infections also fuelled worries of a new wave in September, when Italian schools are set to reopen amid a heated debate over the security measures needed to avoid larger outbreaks.
Experts stressed that, despite the increase in infections, the daily number of deaths and patients hospitalised in intensive care units remains low.
The higher infection numbers are also linked to a rise in the number of tests performed daily, which is much wider than in the early stages of the outbreak.
On Saturday, the Lazio region, which includes Rome, registered the largest number of new cases, at 215. According to local health authorities, around 60 per cent of these may be related to people returning from holiday in Italy or abroad.
To contain that risk, the government stepped up checks on people coming back from Sardinia, after the island registered a high number of contagions, especially among youths who spent the night at local discos and beach resorts.
A streetside portraitist waiting for customers in Milan, Italy. AP Photo / Luca Bruno
Fears of new Covid-19 clusters emerging across the country have also been linked to the growing presence of migrants, who recently arrived in Italy in larger numbers, prompting local governors to accuse the government of mismanaging the situation. In a move that sparked fresh controversy, Sicily's governor Nello Musumeci issued a local order that imposes the closure of all the regional hotspots and reception centres starting on Monday.
"Sicily cannot be invaded, while Europe looks the other way and the government does nothing to reject the migrants," the governor said.
Musumeci also asked the government to immediately transfer all the migrants to other structures outside Sicily. But concerns and protests over the migrants' distribution across the country are also growing among the other regions.
