Italy Heads Back to Lockdown After New Surge in Covid Cases

Most of Italy will return to lockdown on Monday, a year after the country shut down to contain Covid-19, as Prime Minister Mario Draghi pledges to triple vaccinations to more than half a million a day.

While some other European countries such as Germany have laid out reopening plans, Italy is moving in the opposite direction amid a resurgence in infections to levels last seen in November. The government has blamed more-contagious virus strains from the U.K. and Brazil.

Draghi, a former European Central Bank head with a reputation for technocratic efficiency, took office in February amid expectations that he’d end the emergency and help revive the economy. On Friday, his cabinet approved restrictions that require schools, stores and restaurants in most of Italy to close starting March 15. Face masks and social distancing will remain compulsory.

“Italy is administering about 170,000 doses a day -- our aim is to triple that,” Draghi said in one of his rare public appearances since becoming premier. “It is only with widespread vaccinations that we will be able to do without restrictions like the ones we have had to adopt.”

Draghi chose a vaccination center at Rome’s Fiumicino airport as a backdrop to make his case that cranking up the inoculation campaign will lift the devastated economy. He pledged 32 billion euros ($38 billion) of additional stimulus next week, with more to come in the months ahead.

Italy will need an estimated 16 months to cover 75% of the population with a two-dose vaccine unless it speeds up the pace, according to the Bloomberg vaccine tracker.

To keep his vaccination pledge, Draghi will have to ensure that pharmaceutical companies step up vaccine deliveries, which have amounted to 7.9 million doses so far. He hinted he’s ready to block vaccine exports again in case of further delays, using emergency European powers that Italy already exercised earlier this month.

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