The Italian government has approved a long-delayed, 55 billion-euro ($59.6 billion) stimulus package aimed at helping Italy's battered businesses and struggling families survive the coronavirus crisis.

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte had promised to introduce the measures last month, but repeated rows within his increasingly shaky coalition over various aspects of the decree, which runs to almost 500 pages, led to repeated holdups. "We have worked on this decree aware that the country is in great difficulty," Conte said on Wednesday following a Cabinet meeting. The decree takes immediate effect.