Italian PM announces plan to ease coronavirus lockdown

ROME - Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said Sunday that beginning on May 4, the manufacturing, construction, and wholesale sectors can go back to work. They will be followed by retailers, museums, galleries, and libraries on May 18 and by bars, restaurants, hairdressers and beauty salons on June 1.

Also beginning on May 4, people will be allowed to visit their relatives as long as they wear masks; parks and public gardens will reopen, and people will be able to go jogging or bike riding further than 200 meters from their homes, Conte said in a nationally televised speech on Sunday evening.

Conte made the remarks ahead of the end of the national lockdown on May 3, which is to be followed by what he called Phase Two.

Funerals will be allowed but with a maximum of 15 participants as long as the social distancing requirements are fulfilled.

All businesses will have to follow rigorous workplace safety protocols.

Conte said the government has fixed the price of surgical masks at 50 eurocents each to prevent speculation, and promised "massive support" measures for businesses and the tourism sector in order to reopen the economy during Phase Two.

"If you love Italy, maintain your inter-personal safety distance to keep the new coronavirus pandemic at bay," Conte said.

"We are about to embark on the phase of living with the virus, and we must be aware that the curve of the contagion could go back up in some parts of the country," Conte said.

"The risk is there, and we must take it on, methodically and rigorously," he said. "This is why during Phase Two it will be even more important to maintain the inter-personal safety distance of at least one meter."

"Responsible behavior on the part of each one of us will be essential: if you love Italy, you must avoid the risk of spreading the contagion," Conte said.

"If we don't respect the distance the curve will go back up and it could go out of control, our deaths will increase, and at that point the damage to our economy could become irreversible," the prime minister warned.

"Our objective is not to have more people on welfare but more people with jobs," Conte added.