A record number of 600,000 doses of anti-Covid vaccines were administered in Italy on Friday, health officials said on Saturday, stressing that the peninsula was now in second place in Europe for the number of people vaccinated.
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Yesterday was marked by a record number of injections in 24 hours, which reached the 600,000 mark, while the number of doses administered now exceeds the bar of 37 million
", welcomed the government body in charge of the vaccination campaign in a press release.
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Italy is also in absolute second place in Europe in terms of fully vaccinated population, just behind Germany, and ahead of France and Spain,
" he added, attributing this success in part to the increase in the number of vaccination centers, which are today 2,666 against 1,500 at the beginning of March.
800 new centers will also be gradually opened in the coming weeks.
According to figures published on the Italian government website, 37.06 million doses of vaccine have been administered since the start of the vaccination campaign, and 12.7 million people have been vaccinated, or 23.48% of the population aged over 12 years old.
The pandemic has killed a total of 126,415 people in Italy, where the number of new cases and deaths has been steadily declining in recent weeks, with for example 2,557 new cases and 73 deaths recorded on Friday.
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Faced with these declining figures, the government has initiated a gradual lifting of anti-Covid restrictions. The curfew, until now in effect from 11 p.m. to 5 a.m., will therefore be pushed back to midnight from Monday. Bars and restaurants are also once again authorized to serve indoors, with tables limited to 4 people.