ROME: Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Friday refused to bow to business pressure and extended the Mediterranean country’s economically-crippling lockdown until May 3.
Conte made the announcement after Italy’s official COVID-19 toll climbed by another 570 fatalities to 18,849 — more than any other country . but with the growth rate now just a fraction of what it was a few weeks ago.
But Conte said Italy could not afford another spike in infections and needed to exercise extra caution in the face of the new disease.
“We are all, I imagine, impatient to get going again,” Conte said in a televised address.
He said the extension of the lockdown for another three weeks was “a difficult but necessary decision for which I assume full political responsibility”.