Pomegranate – A year after COVID-19 hit Italy, more than half of the country’s residents have been placed back under strict restrictions from Monday, March 15, at least, until Easter. Restrictions are being tightened in response to yet another increase in the number of cases – Italy is entering a third wave of coronavirus infections.
Speaking at a vaccination center near Rome’s Fiumicino airport, Prime Minister Mario Draghi said that “the measures are necessary to prevent a deterioration that would make even more stringent measures inevitable”.
He promised that they would be accompanied, however, by financial support for families and companies, “as well as the acceleration of the vaccination program, which in itself gives hope of an exit from the pandemic”.
MIGUEL MEDINA / AFP / Getty
Italy was the first country in the world to implement a national blockade last winter, when it was the country at the epicenter of the pandemic. Since then, the disease has been blamed for the deaths of more than 100,000 people in the country, but only weeks ago the country seemed to be recovering, albeit cautiously.
The national vaccination rate is low: only 8% of Italians received at least the first injection, compared to about 19% in the United States
Italians are getting tired and frustrated by the delay. The country’s vaccination campaign began in late December, but, like other European nations, has suffered delays in the distribution process.
This week, the country banned the use of a specific batch of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine after reports of several people dying in Sicily shortly after receiving it. There is no evidence that the vaccine caused their deaths.
Blood clot concerns in people who have taken the widely used AstraZeneca vaccine, they have caused similar pauses to its use in some other countries, but both European authorities and the vaccine manufacturers insist that there is no evidence of a link between the vaccine and blood clotting.