Snow cannon spraying disinfectant are being deployed in villages around the ski slopes of the Italian Alps by sanitation workers, as a novel solution to fight the spread of coronavirus. In Val Gardena, firefighters used their hoses to fill a giant tank with diluted hydrogen peroxide.

As the number of new coronavirus infections has begun to decline in Italy, the country is preparing for the second phase of the lockdown, when restrictive measures will be eased and people will, in stages, begin to return to normal activities.

Italy has the highest death toll in Europe from coronavirus, with almost 190,000 people infected and more than 25,000 fatalities.