Students who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 but are not infected will be allowed to attend school; those who have not been vaccinated will have half the quarantine period if they come into contact with someone with COVID-19.
According to a reporter from the Vietnam News Agency in Rome, Italy, from February 7, the country began to implement new COVID-19 prevention and control regulations in schools, ensuring that more students can go to school while making further progress. a little bit. The number of new infections tends to decrease and gradually return to normal.
Classes are now only available if 5 students are infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus, and even in classes with 5 COVID-19 patients, students over 12 will receive a booster dose of the vaccine and can still Go to school without infection.
Experts estimate the new rules will allow 600,000 students to return to school from February 7.
The Italian government also scrapped the six-month period for “super green cards” — documents certifying people who have been vaccinated against COVID-19 or recovered from the disease — for those receiving booster shots.
[Omicron variants account for nearly 96% of Italian COVID-19 cases]
The Italian government has also halved the time unvaccinated people must quarantine to five days after being in close contact with a COVID-19 patient.
Also on February 7, Italian Deputy Health Minister Andrea Costa announced that from February 11, the European country would lift the mandatory requirement to wear masks in outdoor areas across the country.
According to the Italian government, the country is entering a “new phase” of the COVID-19 pandemic, with increased vaccination rates and a tapering of new cases.
Earlier, Health Minister Roberto Speranza announced that in Italy, 91% of the population over the age of 12 has received at least 1 dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, 88% have received 2 doses, and nearly 35 million people have been vaccinated. , “This result allows us to open a new phase in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.”
The latest data show that Italy reached a “peak” of the epidemic at the end of January. The daily number of new COVID-19 cases continued to decline, with 41,247 recorded on February 7, down from 77,029 on February 6 and 93,157 on February 5.