October 08, 2020

Anna Murray 

The government of Italy decided to make an official requirement to wear a mask in the public space in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Under this new measure, Italians have to wear a mask whenever they leave their own house. However, Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte stated that even though wearing masks in the private home aren’t mandatory. The government does strongly recommend people to keep social distance and to be careful to prevent this virus.  

The rise of confirmed cases made the government of Italy have to make this new measure to prevent the further severe development. Confirmed cases in Italy have increased in 9 consecutive weeks and confirmed cases did not only happen in one area of the country since Italy was one of the early countries in Europe to be influenced by COVID-19.

Recently, some confirmed cases were from Europe. Italy also required people who travel from the UK, Netherland, Belgium, and the Czech Republic to have testing. Different countries in Europe have different restrictions to prevent the virus. For example, Belgium closed all bars and cafes for a month. 

According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Italy has had around 36,000 deaths because of COVID-19, 323,000 infections, and around 26,000 new infections over the past two weeks. 

Photo:Webshot.