Italy flight ban extended to June 15
Flights to Italy have been suspended for another 15 days, justified by "exceptional care" to be taken with the pandemic situation in the country.
The government has extended for the fifth time the suspension of flights to Italy for a further 14 days, until June 15, justified by “exceptional care” to be taken with the pandemic situation in the country, according to an order published on Wednesday.
The suspension of flights to Italy took place for the first time on March 10, for 14 days, and was extended for equal periods on March 23, April 8, April 21, May 6 and today, with effect from 00:00, according to the order signed on Tuesday by the ministers of National Defense, Internal Administration, Health and the Deputy Secretary of State and Communications.
“Given that the pandemic situation in Italy still deserves exceptional care, it appears that the reasons behind the suspension under consideration persist, so a further extension is needed,” the government said.
The ruling admits a new exception, in addition to flights by aircraft that are or will be part of the Special Rural Fire Fighting Device (DECIR), allowing flights in “other cases that are not part of the exceptions” and that are “assessed and decided ‘ad hoc’, by the National Civil Aviation Authority (ANAC), subject to the prior opinion of the health authorities (DGS)”.
In Portugal, the Covid-19 pandemic infected 29,432 people, of whom 1,247 died from the disease caused by the new coronavirus, according to data from the DGS.
The United States has the most deaths (91,921) and the most confirmed cases of infection (more than 1.5 million), followed by the United Kingdom (35,341 deaths, almost 249,000 cases), Italy (32,169 deaths, more than 226,000 cases), France (28,022 deaths, more than 180,000 cases) and Spain (27,778 deaths, more than 232,000 cases).
