The government extends the state of emergency and confirms the ban on travel between regions, but reopens museums in yellow zones and creates the white zone.
It will still be forbidden to travel from one region to another, even if both fall within the yellow zone, and it will be possible to collect food and drinks as takeaway only until 6pm. On the other hand, museums will begin to reopen, exclusively in yellow regions, and a 'white' zone will also be introduced — one in which there will be no restrictions: at the moment, however, no region has parameters even close to those required to qualify for it.
These are the few new measures contained in the decree that the Council of Ministers passed on the night of 14 January, which, in addition to extending the state of emergency for the coronavirus epidemic until 30 April, updates the measures to contain the spread of infection, which is still far from declining.
The decree confirms until 15 February the already-in-force ban on all movement between different regions or autonomous provinces, with the exception of movement justified by proven work requirements, situations of necessity or health reasons. Travel to return to one's place of residence, domicile or home therefore remains permitted, as does, once a day and until 5 March, travelling to another occupied private dwelling, between 5am and 10pm, by a maximum of two people (within the same region, in yellow areas, and within the same municipality, in orange and red areas) and all other exemptions already provided for by the decree for the Christmas holiday period.
The biggest novelty, as mentioned, is the establishment of the so-called white area, which will include regions with a type 1 scenario (contagion index Rt below 0.5), a low risk level and an incidence of infections, for three consecutive weeks, of fewer than 50 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. In the "white" area, the restrictive measures provided for by the decrees of the President of the Council of Ministers for yellow, orange and red areas do not apply, but activities are carried out in accordance with specific protocols.
It should also be recalled that the decree of 5 January had already revised, in a more restrictive direction, the criteria for identifying the risk scenarios on the basis of which the measures provided for orange and red zones will be applied: from now on, with a transmissibility index (Rt) equal to or greater than 1 — meaning each infected person is capable of infecting at least one other person — a region will move into the orange zone (previously this happened from 1.25 onwards), while with an Rt of 1.25 or above it will move into the red zone (until now a figure of 1.50 was required).
