On Monday, Italians who live in densely populated northern regions of the country will go on lockdown as coronavirus cases spike across the country. Most of the citizens of Italy will be expected to stay home except for essential workers.

School businesses and sporting events that are outside these regions as well have been shut down or cancelled as a result of the spike, which is supposedly the highest in Europe so far.

On Easter weekend, which falls between April 3 and 5, the entire country will be on lockdown though limited visits to friends and relatives will be allowed by officials this year unlike the stricter lockdown in 2020.

Pope Francis’ Easter Vigil will most probable be held at an earlier time to enable citizens to abide by the 10 p.m. curfew while fulfilling their religious practices.

New cases are increasing daily and the data from the past six weeks show that they are above 25,000 per day. The vaccination schedules are also a little slow. This is making the fight against variants that have spread over the continent tougher to fight.

Johns Hopkins University data says that 3.18% of Italians have been vaccinated so far. This data mentions those who are fully vaccinated and have received both doses of the COVID-19 vaccine. These numbers compare favorably with the rest of the continent though the U.S. under Joe Biden has now crossed 10%.

Prime Minister Mario Draghi has said that the current rate of administration of the COVID-19 vaccine is about 170,000 doses per day. They wish to triple the numbers of the daily vaccinations.

The number of Italians who have died from COVID-19 is over 100,000, the largest number in Europe, barring the U.K.

On Friday, Italian health officials approved of the use of the single dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine. The doses are expected to reach the country by next month. Officials in Italy hope that these vaccines will increase its vaccination schedules and help the country in its strong efforts to fight against the surge in COVID-19 cases.