26th April, 2020
Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has announced that some businesses, especially in the manufacturing and construction sector, will resume from May 4.
Conte gave a detailed outline of plans to reopen the economy, in a newspaper interview published on Sunday, ahead of the government’s roadmap out of lockdown.
He promised that the plans would be released no later than early this week.
“We are working in these hours to allow the reopening of a good part of businesses from manufacturing to construction for May 4,’’ Conte told Italian daily La Repubblica.
“My administration can’t prolong any further this lockdown, we would risk seriously undermining the socio-economic fabric of the country,’’ Conte said.
He reiterated that any restart would have to be gradual and said companies would have to introduce strict health safety measures before opening their doors.
The lockdown has put a strain on the euro zone’s third largest economy and Italian business leaders have called for the restrictions to be eased to head off economic catastrophe.