Italy death toll dips as Conte tightens lockdown

Rome's Piazza Navona empty Sunday morning. PHOTO CREDIT. JOHN PHILLIPS

 ROME -- As many as 651 people died of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours in Italy, down from 793 in the previous 24 hours, the civil protection office said Sunday. New infections on the peninsula increased by 3957 since Saturday, taking to 46,638 the total number of people currently infected.

 The dip in the death rate came as Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte issued another decree tightening the lockdown to increase isolation, ordering that everyone has to stay in the municipality where they are at the moment unless they have urgent reasons for work or health -- a measure designed to prevent further people moving from the worst hit northern regions to the relatively unscathed south.

 On Saturday at 11:30 p.m. Conte announced on Facebook that all non-essential industries and offices are to close. 

 The Italian journalists' Union, the FNSI, has protested over Conte making an important announcement for the country without warning to the media and on Facebook only. The FNSI has criticised the prime minister also for failing to make himself available for questions from reporters, unlike for example in the UK where British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has begun holding daily press conferences.

 jp