Coronavirus Pandemic: Italy is planning to extend the lockdown until May 3

The government of Italy is planning to extend its lockdown to stop the spread of coronavirus in the country until May 3, Reuters reported on Thursday.

The lockdown in Italy has been in place since March 9 and was due to end on April 13. The businesses in the country are closed and people are restricted to leave their homes.

However, trade union sources and an industry source said the closure of all industries not essential to the supply chain could be slightly eased before the end of April, with a few factory sites allowed to reopen if health conditions permitted.

Earlier on Thursday, data from the Civil Protection Agency showed that new deaths from the coronavirus and infections both enhanced over the past 24 hours compared with the day before.

The country reported a higher number of new coronavirus cases and deaths over the past 24 hours.

Civil protection authorities reported 4,204 new cases of the disease, compared with 3,836 a day earlier. The country listed 610 deaths linked to the pandemic in the last 24 hours, compared with 542 the day before. That brings the total number of death toll to 18,279.

Confirmed cases in the country now total 143,626.