[FILE] Italy’s Health Minister Roberto Speranza gives a press conference in Rome. (Photo by – / POOL / AFP)
Italy is to ban arrivals from coronavirus hotspot India, apart from Italian residents, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said Sunday.
“I have signed a new decree banning people from entering Italy who have been in India within the past 14 days,” Speranza wrote on Facebook.
“We can’t let our guard down” ahead of a limited reopening set to begin across Italy on Monday, he added.
“Residents of Italy can return but must take a (coronavirus) test before departure and on arrival and remain in quarantine” once on Italian soil, Speranza said.
Meanwhile anyone already in Italy who had been in India in the past 14 days should contact health authorities, he added.
With a new coronavirus variant spreading through its 1.3 billion people, India has become the world’s top coronavirus hotspot in recent days, reporting 349,691 new cases on Sunday alone.
In the past week, more than two million cases have been detected, a 58-percent increase on the previous seven days, according to figures compiled by AFP.