Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte has called for "European coordination on health and economic measures" to confront the coronavirus, as his country was entering "the riskiest weeks."
In an interview with the Italian daily Il Corriere della Sera published on Monday, Conte said that his country had not "yet reached the peak" of COVID-19 cases.
"Scientists tell us that we have not yet reached the peak, these weeks are the most risky and we must exercise maximum caution," Conte said. “We cannot lower our guard. This is the most important challenge of recent decades,” he added.
While the Italian government has taken drastic measures to restrict travel and gatherings, Conte said that "new prohibitions” are not necessary. “It is important now to scrupulously respect those in force," he said.
Conte is to participate on Monday in the extraordinary G7 summit by video conference to coordinate the fight against the COVID-19 in the health, economic, financial and research fields.
Italy had more than 1,800 coronavirus deaths by Sunday evening, including 368 new deaths in 24 hours, and more than 24,700 cases of infections over all.