New Delhi (NVI): Italy has made it mandatory to wear face masks outdoors nationwide in an effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, as new infections jumped to the highest daily tally since April.
Several Italian regions including Lazio, around the capital Rome, had already made face masks mandatory.
“From now on, masks and protective gear have to be brought with us when we leave our house and worn. We have to wear them all the time unless we are in a situation of continuous isolation,” PM Giuseppe Conte said.
Masks must also be worn in shops, offices, on public transport, and in bars and restaurants when not seated at a table.
Italians were subject to some of the strictest lockdown measures in the world when the country became the first in Europe to be overwhelmed by the coronavirus earlier in the year.
Although it has managed to keep the virus in check more successfully than many other European countries in recent months, cases in the last 24 hours have surged past the 3,000 mark for the first time since April 24, registering 3,678 new infections, data from the health ministry shows.
-CHK
