Italy Ready To Ramp Up COVID-19 Response Again 'If Necessary' - Prime Minister

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd October, 2020) Italy is ready to reinforce its counter-coronavirus efforts again if the worsening epidemiological situation so requires, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Thursday.

"We are still under a pandemic, and the continuous spread of the infection requires very close attention from us. This time, having the experience of last spring, we must work and remain alert. We are ready to take action again if necessary," Conte told the parliament.

At the same time, the Italian prime minister said that the situation now was "very different from that in March" and that he was opposed to the closure of schools, which only reopened in September in the wake of the first lockdown.

Like most other countries in Europe, Italy has faced a spike in daily registered COVID-19 cases in October. A single-day record of over 15,000 cases was confirmed on Wednesday. Several Italian regions, namely Lombardy, Lazio and Campania, have imposed curfews in response to the increased infection rate.

To date, Italy has registered nearly 450,000 COVID-19 cases and over 36,000 related deaths. The country was among the worst-hit in the spring.