ROME, Oct. 20 (Xinhua) -- Local authorities in Italy are taking respective measures in their own regions to battle a pandemic as a second wave of COVID-19 cases are now sweeping the country.
"We are in a completely different situation to the first wave," Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told a news conference. "We must enter into the logic that restrictive measures can be arranged at a local level by regional heads and mayors when their situation becomes particularly worrying."
The northern region of Lombardy, whose capital is Milan where the pandemic first emerged in late February, now still leads among Italy's 20 regions in terms of cases surge. It decided on Monday to introduce a curfew from 11 p.m. (2100 GMT) to 5.00 a.m. (0300 GMT).
The southwestern Campania region, whose capital is Naples, said on Tuesday it will join the rank and introduce a curfew.
Campania has already closed all schools until the end of October. As the region is seeing a jump in infections, Luigi de Magistris, mayor of Naples, said Tuesday that Campania risks returning to a rigid lockdown because the virus is "out of control."
In addition, the northern Piedmont region on Monday said it will close shopping centers over the weekend.
As of Tuesday, Italy has registered 434,449 confirmed cases and 36,705 deaths from COVID-19, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
Italy has a population of just over 60 million, according to ISTAT national statistics institute. Enditem
