Italy’s prime minister Giuseppe Conte announced in a briefing late Sunday, April 26, that Italy will cautiously begin to lift its nationwide lockdown on May 4, giving an initial respite to businesses that have been paralyzed by weeks of restrictive measures aimed at tackling the spread of the coronavirus. The government will end the lockdown on industry, services and social activities in stages, but a resurgence in virus infections could force a return of restrictions, Conte warned.
Construction companies, manufacturers and some wholesalers will be the first industrial sectors to be allowed to reopen. "This is allowed only on the condition that all these companies will rigorously respect safety protocols," the Italian prime minister said. Retailers and museums will follow two weeks later and restaurants, bars, barbers and beauticians should reopen on June 1.
Steel companies in Italy will be able to resume their activities officially from May 4, even though many of them have already resumed operations in the past few weeks by presenting requests to regional prefects for derogations from the government restrictions, albeit with reduced operations and a lower number of workers than normal. Together with the steel industry and manufacturing, the construction and automotive sectors will also be able to resume their operations, which should lead to an increase in steel consumption.
Italy's lockdown due to the coronavirus emergency, which was imposed more than two months ago, has been the longest in Europe. Italy's economy is headed for a 9-10 percent contraction of GDP this year. According to local sources, almost Italian 30,000 companies shut down in the first quarter of 2020.