Rome. Italy is set for a lockdown again after the recent surge in corona cases in the country. The new lockdown is being enforced from Friday.  The Italian government has planned to divide the country into three different zones as per the severity of the pandemic and impose strict restrictions accordingly.

Four regions of Italy – Lombardia, Piemonte, Calabria and Valle d’ Aosta – have already been categorized as red zones as the corona infection is the highest in these regions.

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, on Wednesday, informed that the lockdown was necessary to control the second wave of COVID-19 and decrease the current influx of patients in hospitals. The lockdown would last for two weeks from Friday and could be lifted if the rate of infection decreased notably, the PM said.

The rules of the present lockdown are as austere as they were in the first lockdown imposed in March. People in red zones are restricted to move to or from their area. Although there is some leniency in the lockdown as regards health problems or urgent cases, one must have a self verification certificate with them at all times they are out.

Shopping centers will run for the sale of food and grocery items and parlors have also been given the permission to open.

Hospitals in Italy have been lacking in beds and treatment spaces after the corona cases started growing rapidly again. The scenario is such that Italian communication media report of ambulances waiting outside hospitals for the patients to be taken in.

There have been 40,192 cases of deaths due to corona in Italy till Thursday. The peak daily corona case in the month of March when the first lockdown was brought into effect was 6,554. The current situation in Italy can be estimated from the fact that the number of daily infection reached 34,505 on Thursday.