03/09/2020 - 17:51
- Clarín.com
- World
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte announced Monday that the Government extends restrictive measures from the north of the country to the entire peninsula, so that movements throughout the territory are restricted to try to contain the advance of the COVID-19 coronavirus.
"There will not be a red zone, a restricted zone of the country and another no. Italy will be protected as a whole. It is about avoiding movements throughout the peninsula, with the exception of cases of necessity, for work or health reasons," he said. in a televised speech.
"All of Italy will be a protected area. There is no more red, green or yellow area. All movements are prohibited, except for proven needs. In all of Italy," Conte insisted.
The measures applied so far in Lombardy and 14 other provinces will be in force throughout the country. Conte spoke at the Chigi Palace, seat of the Government, accompanied by the Minister of Relations with the Regions, Francesco Boccia , who referred to the "progressive homogenization of the norms throughout the national territory".
Meanwhile, the Italian authorities are studying to ask the European Commission (EC) to grant it greater margin to increase its expected deficit by 2020, after having already requested a deviation from public expenditure of 6,350 million euros net, equivalent to 0.3 % of gross domestic product (GDP).
This request already increases the 2020 deficit from 2.2% expected in September to 2.5%. "We have already asked for some flexibility, we are considering making a new request with higher margins," the prime minister announced.
Conte did not say how much margin Italy would be talking about, whose regions most affected by the coronavirus are Lombardy, Veneto and Emilia Romagna, which together account for 40% of GDP.
The World Health Organization (WHO) said there were 109,578 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the world, of which 3,994 correspond to the last 24 hours.
South Korea and Italy are affected almost equally, with 7,382 and 7,375 cases, respectively, although with a great difference in those that are fatal, because while in the first country there were 51 dead so far, in the second the deaths have reached 366.
In the last 24 hours that difference has increased, with the record of one killed by coronavirus in South Korea, while only in Italy there were 132.