In what Italy's prime minister said was 'not an easy decision,' PM Giuseppe Conte has put the country on lockdown for the holidays.
Business Insider reports Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte told reporters that experts fear there will be a jump in COVID-19 cases over Christmas.
Italy wasn't the only European country to tighten restrictions over the holidays — the UK and Germany have both announced heightened coronavirus restrictions.
Johns Hopkins University data reports that as of Saturday, Italy had recorded over 1.9 million confirmed cases of coronavirus since the pandemic began.
Thus far, nearly 68,000 deaths from COVID-19 have been reported in Italy.