Italy spends New Year's Eve under curfew

Pandemic indicators in Italy remained encouraging at a time when the country is ready to mark the New Year's arrival avoiding any sort of mass celebrations, reported Xinhua.

Italy on Thursday recorded 23,477 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. The latest data by the health ministry also showed 17,421 new recoveries and 555 new fatalities on a daily basis.

This brought to 2,107,166 the total number of cases assessed in Italy since the pandemic broke out here in late February. The country's death toll stood at 74,159, while the total number of people who recovered from the COVID-19 infection rose to 1,463,111.

NEW YEAR'S EVE UNDER CURFEW

Italians would spend an unusual New Year's Eve, with a curfew in place between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m.

Any people's movement was prohibited also in the remaining hours of these two days, but for essential reasons of work, health, emergency, and for food shopping.

In order to avoid mass travels in the traditional holiday season -- which epidemiologists fear would lead to a third pandemic wave in January -- the central government has imposed severe restrictions starting from Dec. 19.

The toughest rules were in place on Dec. 25-26 and between Dec. 31 and Jan. 3. The rules included a ban on travel between cities, between regions, and within the cities, as well as a ban on any gathering, party, and celebration indoor, and the closure of non-essential shops.

DOWNWARD TREND

Analyzing the latest monitoring carried out in the week Dec. 21-27, President of the National Health Institute (ISS) Silvio Brusaferro on Thursday said Italy's reproduction number, also known as the R number, was now 0.93.

It means one infected person averagely spreads the virus to less than one other person.

The current incidence was estimated at 300 coronavirus cases every 100,000 inhabitants, also according to the ISS report.

"The curve in our country is still going downward, although this decrease is slowing down a little compared to the previous week," Brusaferro told a press conference.

"Other countries around us are showing an increasing trend, and this is a very relevant point...a strong motive to keep our curve under control."

In the ISS report, however, health authorities noted the latest data were gathered in the Christmas week, during which a less than average number of swab tests were carried out across the country.

At the press conference, Brusaferro confirmed this risk, and explained that "a solid assessment of the trend during this holiday season will be available in mid-January only."

In related news on Thursday, the office of Italy's Extraordinary Commissioner for the Coronavirus Emergency Domenico Arcuri said 14,813 people were administered the COVID-19 vaccine up to Thursday.

This figure comprised 8,090 women and 6,723 men. Most of those vaccinated were doctors, nurses and other health staff.

Italy kicked off the vaccination campaign on Dec. 27. At a press conference on Wednesday, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Italy plans to vaccinate 10 to 15 million of its roughly 60 million citizens against COVID-19 by April 2021.

As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in Italy and some other countries with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines.

Meanwhile, 232 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 60 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States, the World Health Organization reported on Dec. 29.