The Italian government is to lift the outdoor face mask mandate on 11 February, the country's deputy health minister Andrea Costa said on Monday. Costa told Italian news agency ANSA that health minster Roberto Speranza will sign an order dropping the requirement to wear masks outdoors "throughout Italy" from 11 February, regardless of a region's risk status under the government's colour-coded system of covid restrictions.

Describing the move as "a sign of hope for all Italians", Costa said: "We must give a positive sign, for two years our citizens have respected rules and restrictions and have joined the vaccination campaign en masse." However, the decision to drop the obligation of outdoor masks, he warned, "does not mean abandoning caution."