Italy will impose a nationwide quarantine as part of its fight against a new surge in COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations, Reuters reported.

Non-essential stores will be closed nationwide from April 3 to April 5. These days, Italians will only be allowed to leave their homes for work, health, or emergency reasons.

The draft decree also says that from Monday the restrictions will be tightened in the 'yellow' regions of the country with a low level of risk, where traffic between cities will be strictly limited, and restaurants and bars will be closed.

Along with nationwide measures, Italy is calibrating restrictions in 20 regions according to a four-tier color-coding system - white, yellow, orange, and red - based on infection levels and revised every week.