In the view of increasing corona cases, European country Italy has ordered a nationwide lockdown over much of the Christmas and New Year period in an effort to combat a rise in coronavirus cases. The nation has recorded the highest Covid death toll in Europe, with close to 68,000 fatalities.

The nation will be under "red-zone" restrictions over the public holidays, with non-essential shops, restaurants and bars closed. However,  people will be allowed to travel for work, health and emergency reasons. Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte said it was "not an easy decision". In a press confernce, he said, " "Our experts were seriously worried that there would be a jump in cases over Christmas... We, therefore, had to act." He said the launch of the vaccination drive later this month would mark the beginning of "the end of this nightmare."

Meanwhile, The global tally of coronavirus cases stands at 75,977,286. While 53,244,237 have recovered, 1,680,177 have died so far. The US, the worst-hit country, has 17,878,152 cases, and 320,766 have died from the disease there. It is followed by India, which has 10,004,825 cases.

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