Italian Health Minister Roberto Speranza on Monday ordered mandatory coronavirus testing for travelers coming from seven regions of France, including Paris.
France's health ministry on Monday reported that the country's COVID-19 caseload has surged by 5,298 to 458,061 in the past 24 hours.
As of 4:30 p.m. CEST on Monday, there have been 30,949,804 confirmed cases of coronavirus, including 959,116 deaths, reported to the World Health Organization.
This came as countries such as Britain, China, Russia and the United States raced against time to develop coronavirus vaccines.
"I have signed a new order that extends the obligation of a test to citizens coming from Paris and other areas of France with a significant circulation of the virus," Speranza said in a statement on the ministry's website.
"The European data must not be underestimated. Today Italy is better off (in terms of the coronavirus) than other countries, but we still need great caution in order not to render useless the sacrifices we have made so far," Speranza said.
The Ministry of Health on Monday reported 981 new infections over the past 24 hours. This compares to 937 new cases on Sunday and 704 new cases on Saturday.
The overall number of coonavirus infections, fatalities and recoveries since the pandemic officially began here in late February has risen to 299,506, the ministry reported. A total of 218,703 patients have recovered and the overall death toll has reached 35,724.
Also on Monday, the National Institute for Workplace Accident Insurance (INAIL, in its Italian acronym) said in a statement that a total of 52,209 infections from COVID-19 have occurred in the workplace between the official start of the pandemic in Italy on Feb. 21 and Aug. 31.
The lion's share of cases 80.2 percent of reported infections and 34 percent of the fatalities occurred among workers in the health care and social services sectors, such as hospitals, nursing homes for the elderly, and public health facilities.
A total of 177 doctors have succumbed to the new coronavirus, according to a running tally by the National Federation of Orders of Surgeons and Dentists.
Other hard-hit employee categories were security guards, cleaners, call center operators, food, chemical, and pharmaceutical factory workers, and hotel and restaurant workers, INAIL said. ■