By , ROME (Reuters) - Italy closed all schools and universities and took other emergency measures on Wednesday to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Europe’s worst-hit country as the death toll and number of cases jumped.The total number of dead in Italy rose to 107 after 28 people died of the highly contagious virus over the past 24 hours, the Civil Protection Agency said.Education Minister Lucia Azzolina said schools and universities all over the country would be closed from Thursday until at least March 15. Only those in the northern regions most heavily affected by the...…By , ROME (Reuters) - Italy closed all schools and universities and took other emergency measures on Wednesday to try to slow the spread of the coronavirus in Europe’s worst-hit country as the death toll and number of cases jumped.The total number of dead in Italy rose to 107 after 28 people died of the highly contagious virus over the past 24 hours, the Civil Protection Agency said.Education Minister Lucia Azzolina said schools and universities all over the country would be closed from Thursday until at least March 15. Only those in the northern regions most heavily affected by the...WW…

By , ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Thursday vaccines should for now on only be given to the elderly and appealed to regional governments and individuals not to flout his guidelines.Unlike many other European countries, when Italy launched its vaccination campaign at the end of December, its army of pensioners were not given automatic precedence, despite the fact that they have borne the brunt of the killer disease.The failure to provide swifter protection has cost thousands of lives, experts say.“Stop vaccinating people who are under 60, stop vaccinating young...…By , ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi said on Thursday vaccines should for now on only be given to the elderly and appealed to regional governments and individuals not to flout his guidelines.Unlike many other European countries, when Italy launched its vaccination campaign at the end of December, its army of pensioners were not given automatic precedence, despite the fact that they have borne the brunt of the killer disease.The failure to provide swifter protection has cost thousands of lives, experts say.“Stop vaccinating people who are under 60, stop vaccinating young...WW…

By , ROME (Reuters) - Mario Draghi’s prospects of forming a government in Italy were boosted on Saturday when the two largest parties in parliament, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the rightist League, both gave him their conditional backing.However, Draghi’s route to power is still not clear. Both parties said his policy proposals would be the key to securing their support, and it may be some time before he is able to put together a coalition able to muster a parliamentary majority.Having completed a first round of formal consultations with parties on Saturday, Draghi will hold...…By , ROME (Reuters) - Mario Draghi’s prospects of forming a government in Italy were boosted on Saturday when the two largest parties in parliament, the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement and the rightist League, both gave him their conditional backing.However, Draghi’s route to power is still not clear. Both parties said his policy proposals would be the key to securing their support, and it may be some time before he is able to put together a coalition able to muster a parliamentary majority.Having completed a first round of formal consultations with parties on Saturday, Draghi will hold...WW…

By , ROME/BERLIN (Reuters) - Maybe it was the stress. Maybe it was being cooped up with the mother-in-law. But the numbers are in, and one effect of the coronavirus lockdown is now clear: people made fewer babies. A lot fewer babies.Slideshow Births in Italy in December - exactly nine months after the country went into Europe’s first lockdown - plunged by a whopping 21.6%, according to figures from a sample of 15 Italian cities released this week by statistics agency ISTAT.And the impact is far from over. Marriages fell by more than half in the first 10 months of last year, which ISTAT...…By , ROME/BERLIN (Reuters) - Maybe it was the stress. Maybe it was being cooped up with the mother-in-law. But the numbers are in, and one effect of the coronavirus lockdown is now clear: people made fewer babies. A lot fewer babies.Slideshow Births in Italy in December - exactly nine months after the country went into Europe’s first lockdown - plunged by a whopping 21.6%, according to figures from a sample of 15 Italian cities released this week by statistics agency ISTAT.And the impact is far from over. Marriages fell by more than half in the first 10 months of last year, which ISTAT...WW…

By , , ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte won a crucial confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies on Monday, hanging on to power after a junior partner quit his coalition and opened a political crisis amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic.Had he lost the vote, Conte would have been forced to resign.After his appeal to opposition and non-aligned lawmakers to back him following last week’s walk-out by former premier Matteo Renzi’s Italia Viva party, Conte’s government won the lower-house vote by 321 to 259.The margin was wider than expected and gave the government an absolute...…By , , ROME (Reuters) - Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte won a crucial confidence vote in the Chamber of Deputies on Monday, hanging on to power after a junior partner quit his coalition and opened a political crisis amid the raging COVID-19 pandemic.Had he lost the vote, Conte would have been forced to resign.After his appeal to opposition and non-aligned lawmakers to back him following last week’s walk-out by former premier Matteo Renzi’s Italia Viva party, Conte’s government won the lower-house vote by 321 to 259.The margin was wider than expected and gave the government an absolute...WW…

By ROME (Reuters) - Matteo Renzi, who as prime minister once enthused Italians and foreign observers with his promises of reform, is now among the country’s most unpopular figures, his name almost a byword for disloyalty and ruthless political manoeuvres.On Wednesday Renzi pulled his tiny centrist party Italia Viva from the coalition, unseating Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government and throwing Italy into political chaos in the midst of a resurgent coronavirus emergency.His reason for doing so is hard to pinpoint. His original complaint was over Conte’s plans for spending billions of...…By ROME (Reuters) - Matteo Renzi, who as prime minister once enthused Italians and foreign observers with his promises of reform, is now among the country’s most unpopular figures, his name almost a byword for disloyalty and ruthless political manoeuvres.On Wednesday Renzi pulled his tiny centrist party Italia Viva from the coalition, unseating Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government and throwing Italy into political chaos in the midst of a resurgent coronavirus emergency.His reason for doing so is hard to pinpoint. His original complaint was over Conte’s plans for spending billions of...WW…

By , ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s latest restrictions to try to rein in the coronavirus include a partial lockdown of its richest and most populous region Lombardy around the financial capital Milan, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Wednesday.Earlier, the government published its new package of measures which toughen up nationwide curbs and divide the country into three zones - red, orange and yellow, according to the intensity of the epidemic.The zoning depends on a raft of factors including local infection rates and hospital occupancy, with restrictions will calibrated accordingly.In the...…By , ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s latest restrictions to try to rein in the coronavirus include a partial lockdown of its richest and most populous region Lombardy around the financial capital Milan, Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said on Wednesday.Earlier, the government published its new package of measures which toughen up nationwide curbs and divide the country into three zones - red, orange and yellow, according to the intensity of the epidemic.The zoning depends on a raft of factors including local infection rates and hospital occupancy, with restrictions will calibrated accordingly.In the...WW…

By ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s coronavirus death toll is much higher than reported, statistics bureau ISTAT said on Monday in an analysis pointing to thousands of fatalities that have never been officially attributed to COVID-19.Slideshow In its first report of the epidemic’s impact on Italy’s mortality rate, covering 86% of the population, ISTAT said that from Feb. 21, when the first COVID-19 deaths occurred, until March 31, nationwide deaths were up 39% compared with the average of the previous five years.Of the 25,354 “excess deaths”, the coronavirus was registered by the Civil Protection...…By ROME (Reuters) - Italy’s coronavirus death toll is much higher than reported, statistics bureau ISTAT said on Monday in an analysis pointing to thousands of fatalities that have never been officially attributed to COVID-19.Slideshow In its first report of the epidemic’s impact on Italy’s mortality rate, covering 86% of the population, ISTAT said that from Feb. 21, when the first COVID-19 deaths occurred, until March 31, nationwide deaths were up 39% compared with the average of the previous five years.Of the 25,354 “excess deaths”, the coronavirus was registered by the Civil Protection...WW…